Lecture 11 Flashcards
What is absolutism?
Absolutism about property F is the thesis that…
- Entities have or lack F intrinsically
- Intrinsic: Background plays no part in determining whether an entity has F
What is relativism?
Relativism about F is the thesis that…
- It is not the case that entities have or lack F intrinsically
- Entities have or lack F only relative to a standpoint S
What does absolutism say about truth?
- A proposition’s truth value is an intrinsic property of it, given how the world is
- Intrinsic: it doesn’t depend on anything else
- Whether a proposition is true or false does not depend on standpoint
What does relativism say about truth?
- The truth value of a proposition depends on standpoint
- Propositions have different truth values from different standpoints
What are the implications of relativism?
- It is good to have many viewpoints
- But relativism is not consistent
What do absolutists about truth believe?
- Whereas participants in a controversy may disagree about the truth value of various claims…
- Some of these claims are true from the standpoint of all participants, and the others are false…
- Even though we may not yet know which claims are true and which are false
What do relativists about truth believe?
- A proposition can be true from my standpoint and false from your standpoint
Caution!
- Proposition must be formulated explicitly
- “I teach philosophy of science” may seem true if the lecturer utters it and false if someone else utter it
- But these are two different propositions
- Does not show relativity of truth because the use of I
What does absolutism say about rationality?
- There are many styles of reasoning
- Each style of reasoning has or lacks rationality intrinsically
- Implied addition: only one style of reasoning has rationality, and all other styles of reasoning lack it
- My way or the high way; otherwise irrational
On what grounds would one endorse absolutism about rationality?
- To be rational is to reason in accord with the world
- A style of reasoning intrinsically either is or is not in accord with the world
- Furthermore, since the world is unique, only one style of reasoning is rational
What does relativism say about rationality?
- A style of reasoning has or lacks rationality only relative to standpoint
- Standpoint: an intellectual or cultural setting
- Different styles of reasoning are on par in their own settings
Implication: non-uniqueness claim
- No single style of reasoning has a privileged relation with reality
On what grounds would one endorse relativism about rationality?
Evidence of plurality of reasoning styles
- History of science, especially on a Kuhnian view (lecture 6)
- Cultural psychology – though some work in this area suffers from methodological flaws
- Cultural anthropology. Example: the Azande
Unwillingness to rank reasoning styles for validity
What is the Classical Western anthropology view on the Azande case?
- Regarded Azande style of reasoning as “irrational” and primitive
- Extreme absolutism about rationality
What is the E.E. Evans-Pritchard’s view on the Azande case?
Moderate absolutism
- Azande’s reasoning style (e.g. appealing to witches) genuinely helps them make sense of the misfortunes that befall them…
- … but we Westerners know that it is flawed (e.g. appealing to witches does not work)
What is Peter Winch’s point of view on the Azande case?
Responses to Evans-Pritchard
- Rejecting appeal to witches is the result of a style of reasoning that belongs to our culture, but not to the Azande
- Our style of reasoning is no more objective than theirs
→ Relativism point of view
Winch’s conclusion:
- Anthropologists are unable to conclude that a culture is “wrong” about the world
- Far-reaching relativism about rationality
What is Steven Luke’s point of view on the Azande case?
Intermediate position:
- Our attempts to get the Azande right must respect their attempts to get the world right
- But assessing the rationality of the beliefs and practices of other cultures is always both possible and necessary
