Rorty v. Searle, At Last: A Debate

Richard Rorty and John Searle Rorty v. Searle, At Last: A Debate The debate that follows between Richard Rorty and John Searle took place at the University of St. Thomas on September 2r, 1997 under the title "If Truth Be Told: Academic Inquiry in the Postmodern Academy." The debate was part of a colloquium series sponsored by the University of St. Thomas and William Mitchell College of Law on "Rights and Responsibilities: The Crisis in the Professions and Their Communities." The debate and the questionsfollowing it have been only lightly edited; care has been taken to preserve the tone ofthe exchanges. LOGOS 2:3 SUMMER I 999 RORTY V. SEARLE, AT LAST: A DEBATE2 I Introduction CARROCCI: Good evening, and welcome. My name is Noreen Carrocci . I'm Dean of the College of the University of St. Thomas. I'm pleased to introduce the third public colloquium in the series "Rights and Responsibilities: The Crisis in the Professions in Their Communities ." The colloquium is jointly sponsored by the University of St. Thomas and the William Mitchell College of Law. Tonight's theme is "academia" and the title of this colloquium is: "If Truth Be Told: Academic Inquiry in the Postmodern Academy." We are very privileged to have two very distinguished and obviously well-known speakers this evening. They've not done this live before—I checked this out—and I'm pleased to introduce the speakers on this historic occasion. Speaking first will be Richard Rorty, University Professor of Humanities at the University ofVirginia. Professor Rorty received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. fromYale University. Prior to accepting his professorship at the University of Virginia in 1982 he taught at Wellesley College from 1 9 r8—1 96 1 and at Princeton University from 1 96 1—1 98 2 . He has heldVisiting Professorships in the United States, Germany, Italy, France, and the Netherlands. Professor Rorty has been a Guggenheim Fellow and given invited lectures at many universities and colleges . He has published numerous articles and books including Objectivity, Relativism, andTruth;Philosophy and the Mirror ofNature; Contingency , Irony, and Solidarity; Essays on Heidegger and Others; and Consequences of Pragmatism. His works have been translated into many languages as well. Professor Rorty has served as president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Speaking next and responding to Professor Rorty will be John Searle, the Mills Professor of Philosophy of Mind and Language at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has been a member 22LOGOS of the faculty since 19^9. Professor Searle attended the University of Wisconsin where he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford in his junior year. He received his B.A., M.A. and D.Phil, degrees from Oxford. Prior to accepting his appointment at Berkeley he was a lecturer at Oxford from 19^6—19^9. Professor Searle has hadVisiting Professorships in many countries including the United States, England, Germany, Italy, and France. His books include Speech Acts, Expression, and Meaning; lntentionality; Minds, Brains, and Science;The Construction ofSocial Reality; and The Mystery ofConsciousness . His works also have been translated into many languages. Professor Searle has been a Guggenheim Fellow and twice won a Fulbright Award. He's given invited lectures at numerous universities and colleges. He is a past president of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. After our speakers have made their initial presentations of approximately twenty-five minutes each, each will then have up to five minutes to respond to the other.You, too, will have an opportunity to participate by submitting written questions to our speakers . There were little yellow cards at your seats when you arrived. You may write your questions on those cards; persons will be stationed in the aisles to collect your cards. Without further ado, let us begin with Professor Rorty. Opening Statements RORTY: Thanks very much. I thought the most efficient way to get things started would be to quote some sentences that John Searle wrote in...