Relativism is the denial of any absolute or objective values (truth, moral goodness, beauty, etc.) and the affirmation of the individual, community or culture as the source of values.
Absolutism is the view that values (truth, beauty, and/or moral goodness) are independent of human opinion and have a common or universal application.
The absolutist’s view is that some statements are “objectively true,” that is, true independent of whether anybody recognizes their truth. Objectivism is another name for absolutivism.
The general relativist denies that are any objectively true statements; general relativism is the view that statements are true only from a point of view (individual, community, or culture).
Relativism and Absolutism About What?
As with skepticism and dogmatism, many people are relativists only about some areas, and dogmatists or epistemological optimists about others. You might be a relativist regarding ethical matters–saying that moral correctness is merely in the mind of the individual, or maybe the dominant group in the society, but remain an absolutist about mathematics, saying that 1+1=2 regardless of whether you or I or anybody else thinks so.
Relativism related to moral issues is called ethical relativism: the denial of any absolute or objective moral values and the affirmation of the individual, community or culture as the source of moral values. A relativist might say that there are no absolute moral rights for women to walk the streets unaccompanied by men; they do have that right in the U.S., but not in Afghanistan, and who are we to judge what another society believes?
The Essay on Moral Relativism 2
... moral relativism and cultural relativism, and how they relate to each other. Further, in discussion of Pojman’s objectivism, ‘holes’ in the relativist moral ... 164). If the whole world population took on a true relativist view, heroes of justice, Jane Addams, Martin Luther King Jr. ... allowing the questions, “Does this moral concept or action better the society or the individual? ” and “Do these values ...
The opposite of ethical relativism is ethical absolutism: there are universal moral standards–not in the sense that everybody accepts them, but in the sense that those who do not accept them are wrong. Thus, a person who defends universal human rights is an ethical absolutist, on at least some ethical issues. An ethical absolutist might say, “Women have the human or moral right to walk unaccompanied by men, even if this right is not recognized by others. So the current practice in Afghanistan is wrong.”
There are aesthetic relativists too. An aesthetic relativist will say that beauty or coolness or awesomeness or whatever is in the eye of the beholder. “My kid may think Ace Ventura is cool, but that’s his opinion, not mine. But nobody is absolutely right or wrong–it just depends on who you are, what your background is, your personal perspective, etc.”
On the other hand, if your professor tells you that Plato’s Republic is a well-crafted literary masterpiece, he is not merely saying “that’s my view and opposite views are equally valid.” He is trying to convey a truth that was true before people recognized it and would not stop being true if people fail to recognize it. His statement about Plato’s Republic is meant to be objective. He is being an (aesthetic) absolutist at least about this one issue. (He can probably give you very strong reasons for his statement.)
Are Absolutists Necessarily Dogmatists?
Are absolutists necessarily dogmatists? I do not think so. An absolutist might be an epistemological optimist. She would believe that there are some truths that we can discover. She might even think that one way to find out which statements these truths are is to to challenge various statements and discover whether they can be successfully defended.
The Essay on Ethical Relatvism
Cannibalism, what do you think of it? Is it morally correct? Does the theory of ethical relativism support it or does it knock it down? Throughout this paper I am going to evaluate the pros and cons of ethical relativism for a case concerning cannibalism. An American man by the name of Daniel went to South America, for the reasons of writing a book on it and publishing it in the United States, to ...
Relativism and Absolutism Are Contradictories
When two views are contradictories of each other, they cannot both be false, and they cannot both be true. Relativism and absolutism about the same thing are CONTRADICTORIES of each other. What this means is that if you are not a relativist about something, then you are an absolutist. And vice-versa. I either think that beauty is relative merely in the eye of the beholding individual, community, or culture; or I don’t. If I do then I am a relativist about beauty. If I don’t then I am an absolutist about it.
