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'''Relativism''' is "''The doctrine that no ideas or beliefs are universally true but that all are, instead, “relative” — that is, their validity depends on the circumstances in which they are applied.''"<ref>Relativism. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/relativism (accessed: February 21, 2015).</ref>
'''Relativism''' is a family of [[philosophical]] views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that facts in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed.<ref>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/] "The label “relativism” has been attached to a wide range of ideas and positions which may explain the lack of consensus on how the term should be defined."</ref> There are many different forms of relativism, with a great deal of variation in scope and differing degrees of controversy among them.<ref>Maria Baghramian identifies 16 (''Relativism'', 2004,Baghramian)</ref> ''[[Moral relativism]]'' encompasses the differences in moral judgments among people and cultures.<ref name=stanford>{{Cite web | last = Swoyer | first = Chris | date = February 22, 2003 | title = Relativism | url = http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/#1.2 | access-date = May 10, 2010}}</ref> ''[[Epistemology|Epistemic relativism]]'' holds that there are no absolute facts regarding norms of belief, justification, or [[rationalism]], and that there are only relative ones.<ref name="SEP Epistemic Relativism">{{cite web |title=Epistemic Relativism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/#EpiRel |website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=6 July 2020}}</ref> ''[[Factual relativism|Alethic relativism]]'' is the doctrine that there are no absolute truths, i.e., that truth is always relative to some particular frame of reference, such as a language or a culture ([[cultural relativism]]).<ref>Baghramian, Maria and Carter, Adam, "Relativism", "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2015 Edition)", Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/relativism/#RelAboTruAleRel/ "Relativism about truth, or alethic relativism, at its simplest, is the claim that what is true for one individual or social group may not be true for another"</ref> Some forms of relativism also bear a resemblance to [[philosophical skepticism]].<ref>https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/#BriHisOldIde</ref> ''Descriptive relativism'' seeks to describe the differences among cultures and people without evaluation, while normative relativism evaluates the morality or truthfulness of views within a given framework.


One example is [[moral relativism]], which rejects the existence of absolute morality and often argues that morality is a social construct that varies in different cultures. It has been criticized for a variety of reasons, such as implying the absence of universal human rights and has often been used as a reason for rejecting various human rights criticisms.
==References==
 
{{Reflist|2}}
[[Evolutionary psychology]] provides a non-religious explanation for morality, as genetically influenced instincts, that were/are evolutionary beneficial (in particular for a genetically related group). In many cases, these instincts are universal and present in all societies (with the exception of psychopaths), although such genetic instincts may to some degree by suppressed by, for example, [[Cultural Marxist]] propaganda. However, evolutionary psychology is not a very popular explanation for traditional morality, since religious conservatives often dislike evolutionary explanations and liberals often dislike traditional morality.
 
[[Cultural relativism]] is the principle that an individual's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture. It is a common principle in modern [[Boasian anthropology]]. It is sometimes argued to not imply moral relativism, but this is a contested and debated issue.
 
[[Subjectivism]] may be seen as a form a relativism, in which the emphasis is on ideas and beliefs as relative to an individual's subjective experience, rather than as relative to culture. The corresponding form of moral relativism is [[ethical subjectivism]].
 
More generally, it is sometimes argued that there are no absolute truths, i.e., that truth is always relative to some particular frame of reference, such as a language.
 
Another tactic is extreme [[skepticism]] or [[nihilism]]. This in particular against disliked views, to which an extremely stringent [[double standard]] may be applied. The disliked view is then argued to lack sufficient evidence, and if influential, to be so due to being useful relative to the goals of those with power. Such arguments may also be applied to knowledge in general.
 
Such views and such tactics against disliked views have been very influential in humanities and social sciences and are associated with [[Cultural Marxism]].
 
Advocates of such relativism (as well as various "[[New Age]]" mystics) may even claim that developments in the natural sciences, such as the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics, shows that even natural science is now becoming relativistic. This has however been rejected as dishonest quackery. "''Modern physics, including quantum mechanics, remains completely materialistic and reductionistic while being consistent with all scientific observations. [...] Furthermore, interpretations of quantum effects need not so uproot classical physics, or common sense, as to render them inoperable on all scales-especially the macroscopic scale on which humans function. Newtonian physics, which successfully describes virtually all macroscopic phenomena, follows smoothly as the many-particle limit of quantum mechanics.''"<ref>Quantum Quackery. http://www.csicop.org/si/show/quantum_quackery/</ref>
 
Philosophical/scientific [[objectivism]] is in principle the opposite of philosophical/scientific relativism/subjectivism. Objectivists usually do not deny that cultural and individual factors may have influential effects, but do no see such factors as fundamental. However, the term objectivism has been conflated with [[Randian Objectivism]].
 
Related philosophical discussions are regarding the existence of a mind-independent reality and whether is it possible to measure this reality - [[realism]] vs. various other concepts. Different authors do not necessarily agree on the meanings and relations of these terms.
 
== See also ==
*[[Cultural Marxism]]
 
{{references}}


[[Category:Definitions]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Revision as of 18:20, 19 January 2023

Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that facts in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed.[1] There are many different forms of relativism, with a great deal of variation in scope and differing degrees of controversy among them.[2] Moral relativism encompasses the differences in moral judgments among people and cultures.[3] Epistemic relativism holds that there are no absolute facts regarding norms of belief, justification, or rationalism, and that there are only relative ones.[4] Alethic relativism is the doctrine that there are no absolute truths, i.e., that truth is always relative to some particular frame of reference, such as a language or a culture (cultural relativism).[5] Some forms of relativism also bear a resemblance to philosophical skepticism.[6] Descriptive relativism seeks to describe the differences among cultures and people without evaluation, while normative relativism evaluates the morality or truthfulness of views within a given framework.

References

  1. ↑ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, [1] "The label “relativism” has been attached to a wide range of ideas and positions which may explain the lack of consensus on how the term should be defined."
  2. ↑ Maria Baghramian identifies 16 (Relativism, 2004,Baghramian)
  3. ↑ Swoyer, Chris (February 22, 2003). Relativism.
  4. ↑ Epistemic Relativism.
  5. ↑ Baghramian, Maria and Carter, Adam, "Relativism", "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2015 Edition)", Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/relativism/#RelAboTruAleRel/ "Relativism about truth, or alethic relativism, at its simplest, is the claim that what is true for one individual or social group may not be true for another"
  6. ↑ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/#BriHisOldIde
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