Relativism is not a... «Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction»
innashpitzberg9 октября 2012Relativism is not a specific doctrine, but a type of doctrine – I might add, a type much in vogue with intellectuals at the moment. The general idea is easy to grasp. A moral relativist will hold that there is no such thing as good (pure and simple), rather there is good-in-thissociety, good-in-that-society. An aesthetic relativist rejects the idea that an object might simply be beautiful; we always have to ask ‘Beautiful for whom, in whose eyes?’ A ‘gastronomic relativist’ won't be interested in the question whether pineapple tastes nice – it has to be ‘tastes nice to whom, when, and in combination with what?’ A literary relativist doesn't believe that texts have meanings – except at best in the sense that they have a variety of meanings for a variety of readers, and probably even for one reader at different times. A relativist about rationality will say that what is rational is relative to cultures, with the consequence (for instance) that it is illegitimate to apply ‘western’ scientific standards to traditional African beliefs about witchcraft and pronounce them irrational.
9 понравилось22
