Richard Rorty is notorious for contending that the traditional, foundation-building and truth-seeking ambitions of systematic philosophy should be set aside in favour of a more hermeneutically guided project. In this critical introduction to Rorty’s ideas, the author provides an overview of Rorty’s considerable body of work and assesses the impact of his thought both within philosophy and in areas outside the philosophical mainstream. The strengths and weaknesses of some common criticisms of Rorty’s position and pragmatism are assessed in detail. The text goes on to examine the evolution of his ideas, in particular the main themes of his second major work, Contingency, Irony and Solitude .