RELATIVISM.pptx

Understanding of Culture Society and Politics. RELATIVISM  What is Relativism? Relativism is the belief that there’s no absolute truth, only the truths that a particular individual or culture happen to believe. If you believe in relativism, then you think different people can have...

Understanding of Culture Society and Politics. RELATIVISM  What is Relativism? Relativism is the belief that there’s no absolute truth, only the truths that a particular individual or culture happen to believe. If you believe in relativism, then you think different people can have different views about what’s moral and immoral. Understandably, relativism makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Only true, or false, relative to some further factor or parameter, not explicitly mentioned in the statement themselves. That this parameter is a person or group of people making the judgement, or something corresponding to a group of people such as culture or a language. There is no objective truth or falsity; that is, no truth or false concerning the objects involved in the phenomena independent the subjects making those judgement. Cultural relativists believe that all cultures are worthy in their own right and are of equal values. Examples: “We can’t criticise the Chinese for eating dogs. It’s part of their culture.” “We shouldn’t apply moral judgment to the founding fathers for owning slaves. They were a product of their time”. “If you’re a vegan, you shouldn’t criticise another person’s diet. It’s wrong to tell someone how to live their lives.” Relativists believe that right and wrong are subjective, and only make sense relative to somebody’s environment. They do not believe in an external source of moral truth that can say that one system of ethics is better than another.