Synopses & Reviews
The thirty-three essays in Relativism: A Contemporary Anthology grapple with one of the most intriguing, enduring, and far-reaching philosophical problems of our age. Relativism comes in many varieties. It is often defined as the belief that truth, goodness, or beauty is relative to some context or reference frame, and that no absolute standards can adjudicate between competing reference frames.
Michael Krausz's anthology captures the significance and range of relativistic doctrines, rehearsing their virtues and vices and reflecting on a spectrum of attitudes. Invoking diverse philosophical orientations, these doctrines concern conceptions of relativism in relation to facts and conceptual schemes, realism and objectivity, universalism and foundationalism, solidarity and rationality, pluralism and moral relativism, and feminism and poststructuralism. Featuring nine original essays, the volume also includes many classic articles, making it a standard resource for students, scholars, and researchers.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Alan Ryan
Preface
Introduction
Michael Krausz
Part I. Orienting Relativism
1. Mapping Relativisms
Michael Krausz
2. A Brief History of Relativism
Maria Baghramian
Part II. Relativism, Truth, and Knowledge
3. Subjective, Objective, and Conceptual Relativisms
Maurice Mandelbaum
4. Just the Facts, Ma'am
Nelson Goodman
5. Relativism in Philosophy of Science
Nancy Cartwright
6. The Truth About Relativism
Joseph Margolis
7. Making Sense of Relative Truth
John MacFarlane
8. On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme
Donald Davidson
9. Truth and Convention: On Davidson's Refutation of Conceptual Relativism
Hilary Putnam
10. Conceptual Schemes
Simon Blackburn
11. Relativizing the Facts
Paul A. Boghossian
12. Targets of Anti-Relativist Arguments
Harvey Siegel
13. Realism and Relativism
Akeel Bilgrami
Part III. Moral Relativism, Objectivity, and Reasons
14. Moral Relativism Defended
Gilbert Harman
15. The Truth in Relativism
Bernard Williams
16. Pluralism and Ambivalence
David B. Wong
17. The Relativity of Fact and the Objectivity of Value
Catherine Z. Elgin
18. Senses of Moral Relativity
David Wiggins
19. Ethical Relativism and the Problem of Incoherence
David Lyons
20. Understanding Alien Morals
Gopal Sreenivasan
21. Value: Realism and Objectivity
Thomas Nagel
22. Intuitionism, Realism, Relativism, and Rhubarb
Crispin Wright
23. Moral Relativism and Moral Realism
Russ Schafer-Landau
Part IV. Relativism, Culture, and Understanding
24. Anti Anti-Relativism
Clifford Geertz
25. Solidarity or Objectivity?
Richard Rorty
26. Relativism, Power, and Philosophy
Alasdair MacIntyre
27. Internal Criticism and Indian Rationalist Traditions
Martha C. Nussbaum and Amartya Sen
28. Phenomenological Rationality and the Overcoming of Relativism
Jitendra N. Mohanty
29. Understanding and Ethnocentricity
Charles Taylor
30. Relativism and Cross-Cultural Understanding
Kwame Anthony Appiah
31. Relativism, Persons, and Practices
AmA(c)lie Oksenberg Rorty
32. One What? Relativism and Poststructuralism
David Couzens Hoy
33. Must a Feminist Be a Relativist After All?
Lorraine Code
List of Contributors
Index
Synopsis
The essays in this volume grapple with one of the most intriguing, enduring, and far-reaching philosophical problems of our age. Relativism comes in many varieties. It is often defined as the belief that truth, goodness, or beauty is relative-relative, that is, to some context or frame of reference-and that no absolute standards can adjudicate between competing frames.
This anthology captures the significance and range of relativistic doctrines, rehearsing their virtues and vices and reflecting a spectrum of attitudes toward relativism. Invoking diverse philosophical orientations, these doctrines concern conceptions of relativism in relation pluralism and moral relativism, facts and conceptual schemes, realism and objectivity, solidarity and rationality, universalism and foundationalism, and feminism and poststructuralism. The thirty-three essays in this book include nine original works and many classical articles. Contributors include Kwame Anthony Appiah, Maria Baghramian, Akeel Bilgrami, Simon Blackburn, Nancy Cartwright, Donald Davidson, Clifford Geertz, Nelson Goodman, Gilbert Harman, David Hoy, David Lyons, Maurice Mandelbaum, Joseph Margolis, Jitendra Mohanty, Thomas Nagel, Martha Nussbaum, Hilary Putnam, Richard Rorty, Amartya Sen, Harvey Siegel, Gopal Sreenivasan, Charles Taylor, David Wiggins, Bernard Williams, David Wong, and Crispin Wright.
Synopsis
The essays in this volume grapple with one of the most intriguing, enduring, and far-reaching philosophical problems of our age. Relativism comes in many varieties. It is often defined as the belief that truth, goodness, or beauty is relative& mdash;relative, that is, to some context or frame of reference& mdash;and that no absolute standards can adjudicate between competing reference frames.
This anthology captures the significance and range of relativistic doctrines, rehearsing their virtues and vices and reflecting a spectrum of attitudes toward relativism. Invoking diverse philosophical orientations, these doctrines concern conceptions of relativism in relation to pluralism and moral relativism; facts and conceptual schemes; realism and objectivity; solidarity and rationality; universalism and foundationalism; and feminism and poststructuralism. The thirty-three essays in this book include nine original works and many classical articles.