内容

目次

Part 1 Autobiographical: Trotsky and the wild orchids. Part 2 Hope inplace of knowledge - a version of pragmatism: truth without correspondence toreality; a world without substances or essences; ethics without principles.Part 3 Some applications of pragmatism: the banality of pragmatism and thepoetry of justice; pragmatism and law - a response to David Luban; educationas socialization and as individualization; the humanistic intellectual -eleven theses; the pragmatist's progress - Umberto Eco on interpretation;religious faith, intellectual responsibility and romance; religion asconversation-stopper; Thomas Kuhn, rocks and the laws of physics; onHiedegger's Nazism. Part 4 Politics: failed prophecies, glorious hopes; aspectre is haunting the intellectuals - Derrida on Marx; love and money;globalization, the politics and identity and social hope. Part 5 ContemporaryAmerica: looking backwards from the year 2096; the unpatriotic academy; backto class politics.