Ideas y Valores (Dec 2008)
The Paradox of the Public Realm in Richard Rorty
Abstract
The concepto of the public sphere in Richard Rorty's philosophy, inherited of liberal tradition, allows be treated as a part of a game of language called democratic liberalism. One of the rules for validating a move in this game consists in taking for granted the distinction between the public and the private spheres. Richard Rorty thought that democratic liberalism did not need any foundation beyond the way to play it; its only criteria would be the game's practices, according an utopia which would allow us to make more movements in the game. That is, democratic liberalism does not require foundations, but just practices for achieving a social hioe inspired on freedom and pluralism. This kind of utopia, based upon the non-cruelty principle, would make possible an inclusive society where everyone would have a place for their own private vocabulary. In this way, Rorty would have linked freedom and solidarity. However, this language-game reveals the paradox of the link which implies the meaning of the public shere. Herein, freedom is not a sufficient condition of solidarity; hence, there is no place for social inclusion in Rorty's language game.
