Rorty 1984 Truth - 1398 Words

Rorty’s interpretation of the underlying messages of Nineteen Eighty-Four is, to a large extent, consistent with his views on truth and objectivity. â€Å"It does not matter whether two plus two is four is true, much less whether this truth is subjective or corresponds to external reality† (CIS, 176). What Rorty means by this is that it does not matter what one’s beliefs are, or whether those beliefs are true or not†¦ What defines a free society is that people are able to voice their beliefs and opinions without being scared about any repercussions. Winston wrote, â€Å"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows† (1984, 69). It can be†¦show more content†¦He says â€Å"What was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right†. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four?†¦ If both the past and the external world exi st only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable- what then† (1984, 84)? The concept of physical pain is given a lot of importance in 1984. Winston thinks, â€Å"nothing in the world is as bad as physical pain† (1984, 251). It is due to immense physical pain that his process of re-educating himself begins. After being tortured in the dreaded Room 101, Winston set about educating himself in the way the Party wanted. He wrote the Party slogans on the slate they provided him and made himself believe them. He convinced himself that two and two was five; he acquired, laboriously the stupidity required to do that. â€Å"It is not easy to become sane† (1984,263). â€Å"He wondered, as he had many times wondered before, whether he himself was a lunatic. Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one. But the thought of being a lunatic did not greatly trouble him: the horror was that he might also be wrong† (1984, ch 7). Initially, when Conant says that one of Rorty’s doctrines is that â€Å"solidarity should replace objectivity† (Conant, 87), what this seems to imply is that one’s beliefs should be in accordance with that of one’s peers instead of blindly believingShow MoreRelatedThe Perfect Utopia Will Never Be A Reality906 Words   |  4 Pageswarn us about something else we need to fix about today’s society. Thank you so much Atwood, Huxley, Frankl, Wilson, and Freud for your views and have a safe trip back to wherever you might be going. Welcome Foucault, Orwell, Andreas, Burgess, and Rorty. I have noticed that all of your book contain common themes. Some of those themes include forms of discipline and punishment, control of power, and war. That being said who wants to start of the discussion? Foucault: I guess I will start. 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