Richard Rorty: Outgrowing Modern Nihilism

1.      The Great Debate

Why Rorty?

Spiritual Disjointedness

The Book

2.      Overcoming Nihilism

Nietzsche: The "Uncanniest of All Guests"

Heidegger: When the Hammer Breaks

Taylor: Modern Moral Sources

Dreyfus and Kelly: "Whooshing" Up

Rorty the Nihilist?

Three Cases

Conclusion

3.      The Concept of Redemption

Essentialism and Edification

Romantic Polytheism

The Religious Impulse

Rise of the Literary Culture

Liberal Democracy

A New Self-Image

Religious Nostalgia

Conclusion

4.      Averting Nihilism                     

Egotism

The Private-Public Distinction

Self-Creation and Solidarity

Self-Enlargement

Nihilism and Egotism

Post-Metaphysical Redemption

Conclusion

5.      Pragmatist Transcendence

The Ambition to Transcendence

Vertical Transcendence and the Onto-Theological Tradition

Horizontal Transcendence and Pragmatism

Strong and Weak Transcendence

Three Concerns

Conclusion

6.      The Nihilisms of Our Time