The Intellectual

Whether it's theology, philosophy, politics, or science, it is not uncommon for people to believe their particular worldview has greater authority over others. This authoritarian approach to ideas implies that one person's representation of truth more closely and certainly reflects reality—they have the truth and we must submit to it.

Alternatively, pragmatists believe this abstract certitude leads to religious fundamentalism, philosophical dogmatism, political absoluteness, and rigid scientism.

For thinkers like the late-twentieth century philosopher Richard Rorty, language is an instrument for coordinating our efforts in addressing concrete issues we face in our lived environments.

He doesn't believe theology, politics, philosophy, or even science are about acquiring an accurate representation of reality. In fact, he rejects the notion that the nature of truth is one of language mirroring reality. Instead, he views language as a dynamic tool, not something that reproduces truth.

Often credited with rehabilitating pragmatism, Rorty encourages us to abandon these authoritarian approaches for what he calls a literary culture. While he holds that none of these disciplines have an epistemically privileged position from which they can determine which truth claims more closely represent reality, they each still play important roles in society.

In other words, each provides us with particular vocabularies with different uses. Their vitality resides in the way they empower us to describe and redescribe experiences in continually novel and fruitful ways.

Elin Danielsen Huckerby is a research fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, associated with an EU-funded project on Inclusive Science and European Democracies. She recently graduated with a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she worked on Rorty’s uses of literature in his philosophical work.

She believes Rorty's literary attitude gives us more productive ways to move culture, science, and politics forward.  

A few questions to ponder.

Show Notes

Richard Rorty 

The Takeover by Literary Culture: Richard Rorty's Philosophy of Literature by Elin Danielsen Huckerby (2021)

"Rortian Liberalism and the Problem of Truth" by Adrian Rutt (2021)

S1E20 Can Pragmatism Help Us Live Well? w/ John Stuhr (2021)

S1E14 A Tool for a Pluralistic World w/ Justin Marshall (2021)

S1E12 Philosophers Need to Care About the Poor w/ Jacob Goodson (2021)

S1E07 Charles Peirce and Inquiry as an Act of Love w/ David O’Hara (2021)

S1E06 Levinas and James: A Pragmatic Phenomenology w/ Megan Craig (2020)

S1E01 Richard Rorty and Achieving Our Country w/ Adrian Rutt (2020)

“The Power of One Idea” by Jeffrey Howard (2020)

“The Pragmatic Truth of Existentialism” by Donovan Irven (2020)

Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher by Neil Gross (2008)

"Trotsky and the Wild Orchids" by Richard Rorty (1992)

Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity by Richard Rorty (1989)

Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature by Richard Rorty (1979)

Carrie Conners is a poet, writer, and professor of English at LaGuardia Community College; her latest book Laugh Lines: Humor, Genre, and Political Critique in Late Twentieth Century American Poetry explores how American poets since the 1950s engage humor as a political and aesthetic tactic. In this conversation, we talk about the language games of standup comics from George Carlin to Dave Chappelle, and trace the wider shifts in poetry, comedy, and political culture since the invention of the atomic bomb. We also examine how Carrie navigates these ideas in her own poetry, with excerpts from her two excellent collections, Luscious Struggle (2020) and Species of Least Concern (2022).

Subscribe to Nostalgia Trap for bonus content, including our newest podcasts GENDER TRAP w/ Yasmin Nair and CAMPUS TRAP w/ Ryan Boyd: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

“This interconnection between Greek tradition and science and mathematics, and the Babylonian traditions in astronomy and all these other very technical and very advanced sciences, this was a moment which really created the basis for science, mathematics, and so on in the Western world, and indeed, throughout the world, in later centuries and millennia.”

For more than a millennium, the Persian empire was the major political and economic force in western Asia. Beginning in the sixth century BCE, three dynasties of Persian rulers created the largest and most complex nation in the world. From the monumental reliefs of the Achaemenid ceremonial capital, Persepolis, to elaborate silver platters that tell the story of David and Goliath, the art and luxury objects of this period demonstrate the Persians’ political power and self-image. At the same time, much of our knowledge of ancient Iran comes from Greek and Roman writings and artworks because of the relationships and rivalries among these civilizations. The exhibition Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World showcases a wide range objects from the three cultures that shed new light on ancient Persia and tell the story of cultural exchange in this fascinating empire.

In this episode, Getty Museum director Tim Potts and curators Jeffrey Spier and Sara Cole discuss their exhibition Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World and some of the key objects in the show. The exhibition is on view at the Getty Villa through August 8, 2022.

For images, transcripts, and more, visit https://www.getty.edu/podcasts/art-and-ideas/art-luxury-and-power-in-ancient-iran or http://www.getty.edu/podcasts

To learn more about the exhibition Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, visit https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/persia/

To buy the catalogue for Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, visit https://shop.getty.edu/products/persia-ancient-iran-and-the-classical-world-978-1606066805

Episode 143: The "Lush Garden" of Andalusian Music

In this podcast, Dr. Carl Davila explores the Andalusian music tradition of Morocco, known as al-ala, through the written song collections, such as the famous Kunnash al-Ha'ik. By examining the literary record, embodied in around 40 handwritten manuscripts found in libraries across Europe and North Africa, we can come to understand the evolution of the repertoire over the past two and a half centuries. Of special interest here is a little-known work called al-Rawdat al-Ghanna' fi Usul al-Ghina' ("The Lush Garden for the Principles of Song'') of which there are just three surviving copies — including one in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Rabat. In this podcast we will explore such questions as: Who wrote this work, and when? What is actually in it? And perhaps most significant: Where does it fit in the history of the written repertoire of Andalusian music?

Dr. Carl Davila holds a PhD in Arabic Studies from Yale University (2006). He lived in Fez off and on for nearly three years in the early 2000s and has visited Morocco frequently since then. Being the first scholar to write extensively in English on the Andalusian music in Morocco, he has published two monographs and numerous articles on the cultural, historical and literary aspects of this grand musical tradition. At the moment, he is developing a book series with E.J. Brill that will present English translations and commentary for all eleven nubas in the modern and historical repertoires. He is currently Associate Professor of History at the State University of New York in Brockport.

This episode was recorded on April 21st, 2022 at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). 

To see related slides, please visit our website : www.themaghribpodcast.com

Posted by Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).

In our last episode of the season, Michael talks with Kale Fajarado, Associate Professor of American Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities), about his research on queer river-and-seafaring Filipino figures in contemporary Philippine cinema.

A few of Kale Fajarado's publications:

Filipino Crosscurrents (link)

Queering and Transing the Great Lakes:Filipino/a Tomboy Masculinities and Manhoods Across Waters (link)

"Decolonizing Manila-Men and St. Maló, Louisiana: A Queer Postcolonial Asian American Critique" in Filipino Studies: Palimpsests of Nation and Diaspora (link)

Research & lecture summary: 01:40

Advice for researchers & recommendations: 30:20

Kale Fajarado's Movie Recommendations:

• Days by Tsai-Ming Liang (link)
• Ramen Teh by Eric Khoo (link)

https://www.alainguillot.com/rosemary-salomone/ Rosemary Salomone is a Professor of Law at St. John's University, she is the author of The Rise of English: Global Politics and the Power of Language. Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3lcOxNv

A Look at Jazz Criticism with host Rick Mitchell.  Guests: John Gennari, author of Blowin’ Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics (University of Chicago Press, 2006) and  a Professor of English and Critical Race and Ethic Studies at the University of Vermont  and Giovanni Russonello, Jazz Critic for the NY Times.

Support for The JJA comes in part from the Jazz Foundation of America, providing emergency assistance, healthcare, and performance opportunities to performers, composers and others in need. Visit jazzfoundation.org.

This podcast is made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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For more from the Jazz Journalists Association, go to JJANews.org.