Richard Rorty sings in the antifoundationalist chorus. His song equates the rise of foundationalist epistemology with the professionalization of philosophy. The discordant notes he finds in the foundationalist score become, as a consequence, subversive of philosophy as an autonomous discipline.

Nonetheless, the most salient feature of Rorty's recent book, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, is that it is by a professional philosopher, for professional philosophers and about the future of philosophy as a profession. The early chapters of the book are polished pieces of professional philosophical prose addressed to issues which have provoked interest in recent years among members of academic philosophy departments. They represent efforts to undermine foundationalist epistemology even in some of its currently fashionable guises as philosophy of language. Although Rorty disavows the intention of replacing epistemology with a professionalizable alternative, he always fears of unemployment by asserting that there will continue to be philosophy departments and that there is no danger of philosophy coming to an end. He even suggests an activity for philosophers to engage in when not teaching the great thinkers of the past. They might practice hermeneutics by engaging in edifying conversations with advocates of incommensurable viewpoints or participants in incommensurable discourses.

Little importance ought to be attached to speculation about the future of philosophy. And opposition to foundationalism ought to be the philosophical equivalent of resistance to sin – although it is a regrettable sociological fact that it is not. We should stop talking about turning our backs on foundationalism and start turning our backs.