【リンク】
In contemporary American thought, the philosophical significance of Ralph Waldo Emerson has been reappraised by scholars such as Stanley Cavell and Naoko Saito. In contrast, Walt Whitman has received little attention as an intellectual influence on modern American philosophy. Richard Rorty, however, repeatedly emphasized Whitman’s importance in Achieving Our Country (1998) and Philosophy and Social Hope (1999). While existing scholarship on Rorty has largely focused on Emerson’s romantic influence, Whitman’s role has remained insufficiently examined. Rorty develops what he calls “secular humanism” by interpreting concepts such as correspondence, substance, essence, and principle in a radically non-Platonic manner. Whereas Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989) restricted the romantic impulse to the realm of private “self-creation,” Philosophy and Social Hope introduces the notion of “romance” through Whitman, thereby reconciling it with secularism. This paper argues that Whitman’s influence is crucial to Rorty’s articulation of the concept of “romantic hope.” On this basis, the aim of the present study is to clarify Whitman’s position within Rortyan pragmatism.
