At 11:24 AM -0800 11/14/07, Ian Kluge wrote:
I think if you read a bit more about relativism as well as postmodern
philosophy, you would find that my arguments are not straw man
arguments.(See Harris, Harre and Krausz, Audi, Beckwith etc.)
The problem is, Ian, that most people, including those you've been
arguing with here, don't give a big rat's rear end about relativism
as an over-arching ethical or cognitive philosophy. Having watched
your arguments on another list, it seems to me that like the
McCarthyites who were afraid there was a communist behind every bush,
you seem to find unacceptable relativism everywhere.
I'll go back to my original argument - there are relativistic
statements in the Baha'i Writings. Unlike most arguments supporting
relativism, in the Faith there is a perspective that is
metaphysically privileged over other - the Word of God as found in
Scripture. And these positions are nearly always in the form of
principles. All relativistic elements in the Faith have to do with
their application. The big arguments in every day philosophy today
have to do with what points are principles and which are applications.
For practically every other person I've met, relativism has only to
do with ethics, not cognition. So the points you're bringing up
concerning cognitive relativism are irrelevant to their perspective.
And what keeps them from falling into the traps you argue against is
reference to principle as delineated in Scripture. There are some
problems there also, but you don't seem to be effectively addressing
them.
Seems to me that more important on an every day level are such
questions as our attitude towards others given the triumphalist
under-pinings of our theology.
Don C
--
Understood properly, all man's problems are essentially spiritual in nature.
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