RELATIVISM

What exactly is relativism?

• Relativism is a philosophical theory that is simple in
foundation but broad in implication
• Relativism implies that Obvious Moral Wrongs are
Acceptable.
1. All opinions, beliefs, religions, and moralities are equally good (Moral
Relativism)
2. All beliefs, truth statements, worldviews, and theories are
equally true (Cognitive or Epistemic Relativism)
 Possible implications
•Positive Relativism
• No one has a better morals
system, beliefs system, or
truth claim
• Provides solid logical grounds
to prevent conflict and
promote acceptance
• The ultimate philosophical
theory of tolerance
•Negative Relativism
• No one has the Truth or the
knowledge of what is Good
• Truth doesn’t exist, or it can never
be reached
• There is no Good or Bad, and
• no action can be condemned
Supporters of relativism in philosophy

1. Ludwig Wittgenstein
2. Richard Rorty
3. Friedrich Nietzsche
 Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Wrote a book which supposedly solved all major
problems in Philosophy (Tractatus and The
Philosophical Investigations)
• “Picture Theory”
• Propositions are meaningful if they can be represented with
empirical fact.
• The problems in Philosophy are an issue of
language
• The issue is not of what is true, rather it is what you
mean
• Language cannot convey concepts of Absolute Truth.
Discussion Regarding Wittgenstein
 Richard Rorty
• Disagrees and claims that all foundational philosophies
are false.
• This is because they tend toward a metaphysical
realm (Which many post-Kantian thinkers deny)
• There is no Truth, no ‘God’s-eye point of view’
• Only flux and flow exists, the ever changing nature of the
human condition
• Instead of hunting for a ‘Truth’ we should go after what
works for us, what has utility, and what progresses
humanity (a form of pragmatism).
 CULTURAL RELATIVISM

-According to Khan Academy (2020), cultural relativism

refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is
right or wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try to
understand cultural practices of other groups in its own
cultural context.
-Cultural relativism maintains that man's opinion within a
given culture defines what is right and wrong.
 Examples of Cultural Relativism
1. Here in the Philippines, premarital sex is morally unacceptable. If we
go to another country, teenagers want to lose their virginity at a young
age.
2. Here in the Philippines, we do not cease to debate on the moral
acceptability of contraceptives. In another country, abortion is
perfectly normal, more so the use of artificial contraceptives.
3. One society makes any prohibitions on women; while another
society allows women to have equal opportunities and obligations as
men.