dmb, There are many types of relativism, and you are presenting one interpretation. In epistemological relativism there is no ABSOLUTE measure of truth; I agree.
Marsha On Oct 7, 2010, at 12:48 PM, david buchanan wrote: > > > John said: > I thought relativity meant there's no standard to tell how old time is, or > how big space is. Even though TV and Schoolbooks beg to differ. > > dmb says: > If you are talking within the context of physics, "relativity" is about time > and space. In the context of philosophy, however, relativism is a position on > truth and morality. So Einstein's theory is not in dispute here. The dispute > is about epistemological relativity and its relation to the pragmatic theory > of truth. That is the context in which "relativity" means there is no > standard by which to measure things like truth and moral values. As you may > have noticed, I think relativism is a very bad idea with very bad > consequences and I think the pragmatic theory of truth is NOT a form of > relativism. > > That's what Sam Harris was complaining about, you know? A relativist has no > basis on which he can condemn those Albanian vendetta customs or female > genital mutilation or torture by the American military or the Nazis or > anything else. He's morally and intellectually paralyzed by his own > relativism. So Sam is trying to find a scientific way to condemn > objectionable cultural practices. He's trying to find a way to use "facts" > against cruelty and injustice. And he condemns Rorty's brand of pragmatism > because of the relativism he sees in it. As you may have noticed, I'm very > sympathetic with Sam Harris on both counts. I suppose "science" has to be > taken very broadly to include philosophy and intellectual work in general and > I like to think he'd like the original theory of pragmatic truth a lot more > than he likes Rortyism, but I'm still very sympathetic with Sam. > > > > > > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html ___ Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
