 It is an open question how consistent Rorty’s, McDowell’s and Brandom’s reactions to hermeneutics are with views developed within the historical movement of  hermeneutics.[12]  Still, Rorty’s and McDowell’s respective critical stances toward modern epistemology and science, their novel uses of the concept of formation (Bildung), as well as Rorty’s novel use of the concept of conversation, place them in a productive exchange with continental philosophical scholars on themes more customarily associated with nineteenth- and twentieth-century German philosophy generally as well as with the historical movement of hermeneutics. Moreover, Rorty’s turn to edification and the discovery of novel possibilities it affords as an alternative to the pursuit of truth places him in proximity to postmodern hermeneutics, in  particular.[13]