| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy |
| Editors | M.N.S. Sellars, Stephan Kirste |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Pages | 3135–3141 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-94-007-6519-1 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-94-007-6518-4 |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Dec 2023 |
Abstract
While Rorty (1931–2007) only wrote a handful of articles that directly addressed questions of law and legal philosophy, his understanding of pragmatism, which sees knowledge as a matter of conversation between the members of social practices, allows for a reconstruction of his views on some of the central questions in jurisprudence, including the philosophy of human rights law, and the debate between H. L. A. Hart and Ronald Dworkin. Rorty's accounts of political progress, social change, political authority, and the epistemological limits of inquiry have wide-ranging implications for legal philosophy and the practice of law. For Rorty, law was another means of advancing human solidarity by altering both social and legal norms in accordance with what he took to be the hopes of the European Enlightenment.