Whereas Rorty enlisted Nietzsche to consider the untapped promises of pragmatist antifoundationalism, Bloom and Cavell used him to reconsider Emersonian prophetic antifoundationalism. But all turned to Nietzsche in order to turn back to expressions of antifoundationalism on American native grounds. Whether to emphasize an “American Difference,” as Bloom had done; to “get over” national distinctions in philosophy, as Rorty had done; or to consider that notions of what is “American” and “Continental” are created in the friction of transatlantic engagements, as Cavell had done, all demonstrate
...more