Sunday, June 1, 2008

Rorty: Feminism and Pragmatism

If we agree with Richard Rorty's conception of feminism, that is, that feminism and pragmatism are compatible, and the feminist project aims at simply creating a better kind of society, rather than a final step in creating a perfect society which has been ages in the making, then what does this do to the public/private distinction? Is it necessary to have separate public and private spheres in which to carry out this project, or is such a split utterly incompatible with it?

1 comment:

Colin said...

Good question. This is exactly what is at issue between Fraser and Rorty (and also between Young and Rawls).

To bring this into focus we need to ask: what sort of political principles, practices, and strategies does liberalism require. Are these principles, practices, and strategies possibly consistent with a public/private version of liberalism? If inconsistent, what is an alternative?