出刊年月/Date of Publishing

1993.12

所屬卷期/Vol. & No.   第23卷第4期 Vol. 23, No. 4

類型/Type                 研究論文 Research Article

篇名/Title
A World Without Substance or Essences
不涉及實體或本質之形上學

作者/Author
羅逖 Richard Rorty

頁碼/Pagination
pp. 1-25

摘要
歐陸和美國哲學中最好的成果，在極大程度上是重疊的。此二傳統皆試圖擺脫西方哲學中承繼自柏拉圖之形上學二元論，包括本質與偶性、實體與性質以及表象與實在的影響。克服這些二元論的期望體現在「一切事物都是社會約定」和「所有意識都是語言表現」的口號中。併列此二口號，即便可看出實用主義的主張：所有知識不過是某種適用於當時社會目的之語言陳述。這項觀點就是杜威實用主義的特質。

若正視杜威和實用主義，必須放棄柏拉圖式的探索 (即從表象之後探索現實的眞正本質)——這樣的探索爲康德所用卻爲黑格爾所棄。放棄柏拉圖式的探索，即是放棄存在於關係之外精神的或物質的本質觀念，不再探討哪些語言描述較眞實，轉而探討哪些語言描述對人類需求而言較實用。

實用主義中反實在論的知識論述，其用途之一便是協助我們調和達爾文的進化論與傳統固有的價值觀。

Abstract
The most widely regarded works of European and American philosophers overlap to a great extent. Both attempt to break away from the metaphysical dualism of the Western philosophical tradition which was inherited from Plato’s focus on the duality of essence and accident, substance and property and appearance and reality. The philosophical slogans “everything is a social construction” and “all awareness is a linguistic affair” reveal the expectation of surmounting entrenched dualism. These two slogans unveil the pragmatic viewpoint: all knowledge is merely a linguistic representation adapted to the contemporary goals of society. This concept is a specific characteristic of Dewey’s pragmatism. If using the perspective of Dewey’s pragmatism, one must avoid a Platonic quest for truth, which is an attempt to get behind appearance to the intrinsic nature of reality. This kind of exploration, while plainly used by Kant was abandoned by Hegel. Pragmatism as a generalized form of anti-essentialism helps us find an important middle ground between Darwin’s evolutionary theory and more traditional Platonic philosophy.

關鍵字/Key Word
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DOI
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學門分類/Subject
哲學 Philosophy