Richard Rorty | Philosopher, teacher, 75
Richard Rorty, 75, a philosopher and Stanford University comparative literature professor, has died.
Richard Rorty, 75, a philosopher and Stanford University comparative literature professor, has died.
Mr. Rorty died from pancreatic cancer at his campus home Friday, the university said.
His landmark book, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), rankled some peers by arguing that there was no distinction between objective and subjective realities, a theme he continued to develop throughout his career.
The bulk of Mr. Rorty's academic career was spent at Princeton University, where he taught from 1961 until 1982, when he moved to the University of Virginia.
Mr. Rorty went to Stanford as a fellow at the Humanities Center in 1996 and then joined the faculty of the comparative literature department in 1998. His decision to teach comparative literature instead of philosophy reflected his belief that the two were essentially the same (see some of his recent essays via http://go.philly.com/rorty).
- AP