This volume collects a number of important and revealing interviews with Richard Rorty, spanning more than two decades of his public intellectual commentary, engagement, and criticism. In colloquial language, Rorty discusses the relevance and nonrelevance of philosophy to American political and public life. The collection also provides a candid set of insights into Rorty's political beliefs and his commitment to the labor and union traditions in this country. Finally, the interviews reveal Rorty to be a deeply engaged social thinker and observer.

Richard Rorty is Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University. He is the author of three volumes of Philosophical Papers (1991-1998), and Philosophy and Social Hope (1999). Eduardo Mendieta is Associate Professor of Philosophy at SUNY, Stony Brook. He is the author of Adventures of Transcendental Philosophy: Karl-Otto Apel's Semiotics and Discourse Ethics (2002).