Solidarity in Contingency: Rorty's Constructive Project

Richard Rorty (1931-2007), once dubbed 'the man who killed truth', is best known for challenging the idea that philosophy provides foundational knowledge. Yet beyond the controversy lies a vital, underexplored side of Rorty's work: his constructive vision for fostering democratic solidarity in a world shaped by contingency and uncertainty. This volume shifts focus from defending Rorty to applying his insights for today's fractured, post-truth culture.

Centered on Rorty's "Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity" (1989), the collection explores how his pragmatism helps us reimagine philosophy as a cultural practice-one grounded not in timeless truths, but in shared hopes, vocabularies, and democratic cooperation. The volume brings together seven original essays that revisit Rortyan concepts like liberal ironism, poetic redescription, eirenism, and democratic solidarity, and explore their implications for social justice, feminist theory, public discourse, and the humanities.

Rather than lament relativism or retreat into essentialism, these contributions demonstrate how Rorty's philosophy offers practical, imaginative tools for navigating difference and building inclusive societies. Emphasizing creativity over certainty and solidarity over skepticism, this timely volume reclaims Rorty's legacy as a philosopher of hope-and a resource for democratic renewal in our era of radical uncertainty.

Dr Huckerby is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Bergen, where she works on perceptions and portrayals of populism and populist dynamics, specifically in post-Brexit British literature ("Brexlit"), and teaches American and British literatures in context. She was awarded a PhD from the University of Cambridge (2021) for a study on the pragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty's uses of literature, has published articles and chapters on his work. In 2021 she won the Rorty's Society's global essay competition for a paper based on her doctoral work and is now writing a book on Rorty's aesthetics. Huckerby also hold an MSc in Computer Science and Telematics, and is the convener and coordinator of the Norwegian Pragmatism Network.

Professor Janack is the John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. She teaches classes in philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, feminist philosophy, and philosophy and literature, and has, in addition to numerous papers, published books such as What We Mean By Experience (Stanford, 2012) and edited the collection Feminist Interpretations of Richard Rorty. She is working on a book about David Foster Wallace.