An in-line consideration of rationalism in the works of Seyyed Hussain Nasr and Richard Rorty

Abstract

Richard Rorty, who is a new-pragmatist and anti-essentialist philosopher, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, who is a traditionalist, are both of the prominent thought leaders in contemporary philosophy. Having challenged the rationality foundations and criteria in modern philosophy, especially the criteria which expand the scientific rationality day by day, they intend to expand rationality based on their own philosophic views in other areas including literature, art, and humanities. A careful studying of similar and different aspects of Nasr and Rorty’s philosophic opinions about rationality and criticizing them lead to understanding the limitations and shortcomings of modern philosophy as far as the concept of rationality is concerned, the ones which need to be changed, expanded, or moderated. Changing and moderating Nasr’s views is carried out through focusing on timeless and eternal aspects of man, and reaching the absolute truth to other sciences. Regarding Rorty’s philosophy, the same thing is happening by focusing on time and historical aspects, by creating correlation and democratic relations among all the men. Despite the fact that Nasr and Rorty’s views have fundamental differences, they have been the key to solving many problems in contemporary philosophy by revealing the damages of modern rationality.

Keywords

• Keywords: rationality
• Seyyed Hussain Nasr
• Richard Rorty
• traditionalism
• Neo-Pragmatism
• the sacred science
• Correlation