Nietzsche, Rorty, and Enlightenment

Abstract

<p>Friedrich Nietzsche is often supposed to represent an end to ideas central to Enlightenment thinking such as human maturation, power, and progress. Through an examination of the work of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and especially that of Richard Rorty, this thesis develops and defends an argument based on Nietzsche's thinking on contingency and creation in order to make clear the ways in which we can see in the philosophical reaction to Nietzsche's thought resources for a renewed faith in Enlightenment thinking.</p>