International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

E-ISSN: 2582-2160     Impact Factor: 9.24

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

Call for Paper Volume 7, Issue 4 (July-August 2025) Submit your research before last 3 days of August to publish your research paper in the issue of July-August.

BETWEEN SAYING AND BEING: ETHICS AND TRUTH IN THE PHILOSOPHIES OF HEIDEGGER, RORTY AND DERRIDA

Author(s) Dr. Shivani Vishwakarma
Country India
Abstract This paper explores the philosophical intersection between Martin Heidegger, Richard Rorty, and Jacques Derrida concerning the role of language in shaping truth. Despite their divergent intellectual backgrounds—Heidegger’s existential phenomenology, Rorty’s pragmatism, and Derrida’s deconstruction—all three thinkers challenge the traditional metaphysical conception of truth, emphasizing its dynamic and transformative nature. Heidegger envisions language as the house of Being, where truth emerges poetically through aletheia (un-concealment), while Derrida destabilizes meaning through différance, asserting that truth is always deferred. Rorty, in contrast, views truth as a contingent social construct shaped by evolving vocabularies and discourses.
Literature serves as a critical space where these philosophical perspectives converge, transforming abstract metaphysical inquiries into experiential and ethical engagements. Through the works of Dostoevsky, Borges, and Beckett, literature is revealed as both a medium for exploring truth and an active force in constructing reality. Aligning Heidegger’s poetic vision, Rorty’s pragmatic redescription of truth, and Derrida’s critique of meaning, this study demonstrates how literary narratives mediate philosophical and ethical questions through symbolism, allegory, and linguistic play. By analyzing the ethical implications of linguistic mediation, this paper underscores the necessity of engaging with language as a creative force in shaping human understanding. Ultimately, the convergence of these perspectives suggests that truth is not a fixed entity but an evolving process shaped by linguistic and literary interventions, highlighting the broader philosophical and ethical significance of language in constructing our world.
Keywords Language and Truth, Heidegger, Derrida, Rorty, Aletheia, Deconstruction, Pragmatism, Literary Theory, Ethics, Moral Imagination, Poetic Language, Contingency, Philosophy and Literature, Ontology, Postmodernism
Field Sociology > Philosophy / Psychology / Religion
Published In Volume 7, Issue 4, July-August 2025
Published On 2025-07-31
DOI https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i04.52547
Short DOI https://doi.org/g9vpqg

Share this