Private Irony and public Cruelty. On the Criticism of Richard Rorty's Nietzsche- Criticism

Richard Rorty does not only embrace many aspects of Nietzsche's philosophy, but claims to improve on it. Thus, he shares with Nietzsche the refutation of a moral philosophy based on pretended objectivity and ultimate justification. However, he holds such a position to be consistent with the insistence on his own particular perspective of a Eurocentric liberal. Rorty's criticism targets Nietzsche's demand for poeticised self-creation because of its potential for cruelty, which is supposed to undermine the social bedrock for further self-overcoming. Although his critique is poignant, it issues in a dichotomy between public and private that is open to the charge of falling back into the metaphysics he explicitly wants to avoid.