I didn’t agree with (or, frankly, understand) all I had read of Rorty, but his recent death is a great loss to American philosophy. Here’s a quote from his last interview:

Richard Rorty: When I visited Tehran I was

surprised to hear that some of my writings had been translated into

Persian, and had a considerable readership. I was puzzled that rather

fussy debates of the sort that take place between European and American

philosophers, and in which I engage, should be of interest to Iranian

students. But the reception of the talk I gave on “Democracy and

Philosophy” made clear that there was indeed intense interest in the

issues I discussed.

When I was told that another figure much

discussed in Tehran was Habermas, I concluded that the best explanation

for interest in my work was that I share Habermas’s vision of a social

democratic utopia. In this utopia, many of the functions presently

served by membership in a religious community would be taken over by

what Habermas calls “constitutional patriotism.” Some form of

patriotism — of solidarity with fellow-citizens, and of shared hopes

for the country’s future — is necessary if one is to take politics

seriously. In a theocratic country, a leftist political opposition must

be prepared to counter the clergy’s claim that the nation’s identity is

defined by its religious tradition. So the left needs a specifically

secularist form of moral fervor, one which centers around citizens’

respect for one another rather than on the nation’s relation to God.

(via 3Quarks Daily)

That “specifically secularist form of modern fervor” sounds like just the ticket. So how do I get to practice good citizenship? Why, through my artwork of course! if only it were that simple.

But sometimes it does work. I’m thinking of a couple of public-spectacle pieces that really swept me along. The Sultan’s Elephant, by Royal DeLuxe is one, and Cloud Gate, by Anish Kapoor is another. It’s a shame that both of these are such large scale, expensive pieces; I could’ve made a better point with a small, cheap book that gave as much pleasure and wonder. But both of these pieces inspire wonder. Both give pleasure to the crowds that beheld them, both drew together crowds in the city in a way few other things do. I felt part of the city, part of the experience that was taking place amongst all these people around me, who were, at that moment, emphatically my fellow-citizens, the people with whom I would shape the future. If that’s not patriotism, what is?

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