Richard J. Bernstein - The New Constellation: The Ethical-Political Horizons of Modernity/Postmodernity

The essays in this volume were written at three different institutions: Haverford College, Frankfurt University (where I was a visiting professor in the spring, 1988) and the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research. I have been extremely fortunate to have had colleagues and students who challenged me at almost every point. The semester I taught at Frankfurt University was especially significant. In addition to teaching a seminar dealing with the themes of these essays, I also participated in a seminar with Jrgen Habermas and Karl-Otto Apel that dealt with modernity/postmodernity. Because we share so much in common, we could focus attention on our differences, especially our different readings and interpretations of Heidegger, Gadamer, Derrida, Foucault, and Rorty. Both Habermas and Apel are formidable opponents and our discussions were intense and productive. I want to acknowledge the gracious hospitality I received in Frankfurt and the intellectual stimulation of my students and colleagues.

The senior fellowship that I received (19856) from the National Endowment for Humanities provided the opportunity for the reading and meditating required for writing these essays. My research assistants at the New School, Eduardo Duarte, Rick Lee, and Aaron Garrett helped in numerous ways to prepare this manuscript. I have also been blessed with a cheerful, extremely efficient secretary, Claire Martin, who made sure that I had the time required to complete this book. The editors of Polity Press have been exemplary. John Thompson has been most gracious and efficient. Halina Boniszewska carefully supervized the production of this book. Penny Rendali is one of the best copy-editors with whom I have worked. As always, my wife Carol has been my best and most perceptive critic.

Philosophy, History, and Critique was originally published with the title History, Philosophy, and The Question of Relativism in At the Nexus of Philosophy and History, ed. Bernard P. Dauenhauer (Atlanta: University of Georgia Press, 1987). Earlier versions of The Rage Against Reason appeared in Philosophy and Literature, 10 (1986), and in Construction and Criticism, ed. Ernan McMullin (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988). Incommensurability and Otherness Revisited was prepared for the Sixth East-West Philosophers Conference held in Hawaii in August, 1989. It will be published in the proceedings of the conference. Foucault: Critique as a Philosophic thos was published in Zwischenbetrachtungen, eds. A. Honneth, T. McCarthy, C. Offe, A. Wellmer (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1989). Serious Play: The Ethical-Political Horizon of Jacques Derrida, was published in The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 1 (1987). One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward: Rorty on Liberal Democracy and Philosophy, together with Rortys reply, Thugs and Theorists, appeared in Political Theory, 15 (1987). Rortys Liberal Utopia was published in Social Research, 57 (1990). Pragmatism, Pluralism, and the Healing of Wounds, is the presidential address delivered before the Eighty-fourth Annual Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Washington, DC on December 29, 1988. It was published in the Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 63 (1989). All of the above essays have been revised for publication in this volume. I want to acknowledge my gratitude to the editors and publishers for permission to reprint revised versions of these essays.