Autonomous Reason & Public Discourse

First, I want to thank those of you who gave me some recommended reading for pomo/continental philosophy... for starters, I got Smith's "Who's Afraid of Radical Orthodoxy?", and it's been very helpful (I have read his intro to RO, but I might have to re-read parts of it).

What I'd like to discuss here flows from that reading, and the other reading I've done in RO (and elsewhere: e.g. MacIntyre) to this point. If I've understood what I've read, one modern concept which comes under heavy fire is the notion of autonomous reason.

The critiques I've read of this notion are compelling to me, but I'm not yet completely sold. Among other concerns, I'm worried that one consequence of these critiques is that public political discourse among those with differing presuppositions is -- for all intents and purposes -- impossible. And with the highly partisan political atmosphere we already have, the idea that I can't appeal to someone's reason is disconcerting and troubling one. If there is no autonomous reason which acts as arbiter, how can I say, "come, let us reason together"?

What am I missing?

Intelligent Housing

Sometimes you can't imagine what will happen to you. We closed on our house today, and wound up on the local news. Kiplinger rated Nashville first among U.S. cities today, so the local news station interviewed us about why we moved. It was very cheesy, the whole video production process. Here is the link. Feel free to ridicule me over it.

Peace,
Scott

Recommended Reading?

One of the difficulties I've found as I've sought entry into the world of RO is the philosophical concepts and terminology employed therein. While I'm fairly comfortable in moving about the realms of ancient and medieval philosophy, postmodern philosophy (and perhaps even contemporary continental philosophy in general) is in many ways virtually unintelligible to me.

So, I'm wondering if those more experienced in the philosophical context of RO can provide a short bibliography of primers or introductions to postmodern and/or continental philosophy (I see that James K.A. Smith has a new book out which might be helpful here... anyone read it?).

Thanks for any help!