My principal motive is the belief that we can still make admirable sense of our lives even if we cease to have... an ambition of transcendence.
Richard RortyRead
Truth is what your contemporaries let you get away with.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Truth is not an absolute concept but rather shaped by societal acceptance and norms.
This quote by Richard Rorty suggests that our understanding of truth is largely dependent on the perspectives and beliefs of those around us. What is considered 'true' can vary significantly between different societies and time periods, as it is influenced by cultural norms and collective acceptance rather than objective reality.
Themes
TruthSocietyPerceptionNormsBelief
In practice
Example use cases
A philosopher discussing relativism in a debate.
More from Richard Rorty
All quotes βTo say that truth is not out there is simply to say that where there are no sentences there is no truth, that sentences are elements of human languages, and that languages are human creations.~ The suggestion that truth~ is out there is a legacy of an age in which the world was seen as the creation of a being who had a language his own.
Richard RortyRead
The world does not speak. Only we do. The world can, once we have programmed ourselves with a language, cause us to hold beliefs. But it cannot propose a language for us to speak. Only other human beings can do that.
Richard RortyRead
Philosophy makes progress not by becoming more rigorous but by becoming more imaginative.
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National pride is to countries what self-respect is to individuals: a necessary condition for self-improvement.
Richard RortyRead
A talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well is the chief instrument of cultural change.
Richard RortyRead
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