Nietzsche could be said to be the ultimate relativist - as he said everything is perspectival - 'truth is a mobile army of metaphors' are all that jive. The problem here is he says 'truth is' - so the question becomes one about 'what metaphors' and such. Eventually, relativism is presumed to imply realism as it is stating something about what is. Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy online will produce some argument on this by searching 'relativism'. Most people assume knowledge is much more certain than it actually is and so get into philosophic argument half-cocked. The question of what evidence is is difficult in all philosophy and no none holds that there is some kind of neutral language of observation anymore except the uninformed (most people). Data is always in some kind of relation with theory and we might say that evidence is just about that moment any one of us is using his or her collected experience in a moment of sensing (Quine's argument at bottom). None of this makes any moment of thinking as valid as any other, or all our views of equal merit. Key crud in forms of relativism are root metaphors, paradigms and culture - the mistake is making any of them sacred or perhaps that of believing more than one needs to - though it's clear we cannot think at all without believing something. I gave a prostitute in West Africa $5 once (she might have made this in a night from ten men). We didn't screw, though I held her hand when she was frightened by " 18 foot devils". In the morning, over coffee and breakfast at my hotel she was confused, but chose to believe I had done what I had because I was a good man (giving her money and not screwing) and that I had 'white man's power' over the 'devils'. The devils were just men on stilts and she was right about me being a good man (at least when I can). There could be many explanations about what happened. I don't think I just prefer the one in which I was just a sociologist who didn't want to get clap, but did want some reasonably direct contact with the West African secret societies. $5 was cheap for that. I guess I could have had the offered blow job without doing too much harm in the world, but I'm a sad bastard really and can't escape my conscience or really be that cheap. St. Francis might have offered her one I guess, but then she really hated men. I watched her dance in a bar that night for a few moments and would gladly have killed pretty much everyone in it if I could have changed her life for the better. She was working on her next clients. I may really hate Western society at times, but there is worse than even we manage. How 'relativist' do I need to get? The real issues are not about realism, relativism and so on - the idea is to catch out more of yourself in thinking processes, more of your incompetence, bias and taken-for-granted - though this is not all introspection. In doing this, one probably finds that many apparently different arguments have the same bases. Western philosophy at least offers no certain base or certainty, yet is the base for a science that works over and over again. One might wonder why so many of us in the West are as trapped as the prostitute in our own dumb culture.
On 23 Aug, 23:52, gruff <[email protected]> wrote: > Sorry Francis but I don't see the distinction. One can make a > personal decision that is situational (be it moral, ethical or > otherwise) and still take responsibility for it. Nor does it make > hiding behind any other reason mandatory or even necessary. I've > spent most of my life employing situational ethics and consider it to > be the same as relativism. My choice of behavior is relative to the > situation. > > On Aug 23, 1:37 pm, frantheman <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > On 23 Aug., 22:30, gruff <[email protected]> wrote: > > It's a situational ethic or morality which some people > > > > consider to be an easy means for people to do what they want ... > > > In fact, it's quite the opposite, because it means that you have to > > make a personal decision and take the responsibility for it, rather > > than being able to hide behind some rulebook, code of commandments or > > divine order. > > > Francis --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
