Gary Gutting offers a powerful account of the nature of human reason in modern times.

Introduction: the question of modernity; Part I. Richard Rorty: The Rudiments of Pragmatic Liberalism: 1. The philosophy of representations; 2. Knowledge without representations; 3. Justification as a social practice; 4. The problem of truth; 5. Davidsonian therapy; 6. Truth and science; 7. Ethics without foundations; 8. Liberal ironism; Part II. Alasdaire MacIntyre: A Modern Malgre Lui: 1. MacIntyre's critique of the enlightenment; 2. Which enlightenment?; 3. In defense of enlightenment humanism; 4. The lure of tradition; 5. The tradition of the virtues; 6. MacIntyre and modernity; 7. MacIntyre versus pragmatic liberalism; Part III. Charles Taylor: An Augustinian Modern: 1. Taylor's historical project; 2. Locke and the radical enlightenment; 3. The primacy of everyday life; 4. Beyond the enlightenment: evil, romanticism, and poetic truth; 5. Taylor's critique of naturalism; 6. Williams and objectivity; 7. Naturalism and hypergoods: pragmatic liberalism; Conclusion.