Has Richard Rorty Ever Been an Analytic Philosopher?

Abstract

It has become a commonplace to distinguish between analytical and pragmatist phases in Richard
Rorty’s philosophical career. Nevertheless, not all historians of American philosophy or Rorty’s
colleagues agree with this conventional periodization. It is suggested that in the 1960–70s Rorty
only disguised himself as analytical philosopher, actually being a pragmatist. This view is held in
United States by N. Gross, J. Richardson and C. West, and in Russia by E. Loginov. The purpose
of this article is to refute the “sociological argument” put forward by Gross and those scholars who
question the “polycentricity” of Rorty’s philosophy.