ABSTRACT -/- Richard Rorty transforms classical American philosophy in a way that overcomes some of the ideological limitations of the first pragmatists, and responds to contemporary currents in European thought. Odo Marquard is not a well-known name in English-speaking philosophy, despite two well-translated collections of philosophical essays. Rorty knew Marquard and his work, but to my knowledge he never discussed it in print. Following four themes in their work—skepticism, contingency, the value of philosophy, and the relation of knowledge and myth—I (...) develop some of their agreement, without neglecting the differences that comparison brings to light, and which also allow us to gauge Rorty’s concessions (if that is what they are) to European postmodernism. Rorty is as historicist as Marquard, but he does not extract the same skeptical lesson. For him, skepticism is a means to an end, a way of getting over philosophy, to clear the way for something unimaginably different. For Marquard, skepticism about matters of principle is a place to stay, a philosophy to live with. I would expect Marquard to be skeptical, perhaps gratefully skeptical, that Rorty’s pragmatism can perform as advertised, and really make philosophy pass into the past. (shrink)