Can someone plss tell me what "relativism" is?!?

Question

ill leave this one up to the voters.

i dont know the answer..

Answer 1

the doctrine that knowledge is relative, not absolute

Answer 2

"Relativism is not a single doctrine but a family of views whose common theme is that some central aspect of experience, thought, evaluation, or even reality is somehow relative to something else. For example standards of justification, moral principles or truth are sometimes said to be relative to language, culture, or biological makeup. Although relativistic lines of thought often lead to very implausible conclusions, there is something seductive about them, and they have captivated a wide range of thinkers from a wide range of traditions."

Stanford Encyclopedia of Phi http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relati...

A "relative" view of existence is often displayed in questions and answers in this forum. One oft asked Q goes like this:

"When I die (or close my eyes) does the universe disappear?"

Relativism is a fallacy. The one above is called the Primacy of Consciousness, which states that a conciousness is necessary to reify (make real) the existence of existents.

Another "relative" idea is that when a butterfly flaps its wings, a hurricane may occur--later of course--somewhere else in the world.

Relativism takes "cause and effect" to levels that have nothing to do with objectivity, and everything to do with subjectivity--the subjectivity of the individual who is deciding the "relativeness" of the situation.

In that philosophical atmosphere, anything that any person wishes to make "relative" becomes relative because his/her logic, formally "valid" or not, makes it valid.

Answer 3

I just looked it up as i read the question. Basically it means the same as Zen has been saying as Buddha has been saying that we are deluded in our view of reality but i find one part of it flawed that there is no absolute truth, there is. And i will give it to you, Absolute truth is experience, the moment that you are in, not only is it absolute but it is the only truth that is beyond subjectivity and objectivity. Example of truth Without words without silence you can tell me exactly what a cup is simply by tipping it over or drinking from it, Now listen to this the truth is not in your view of the cup nor in mine, but in the understanding. I KNOW what the cup is by seeing, but I EXPERIENCE the seeing and then i understand through the experience. In short absolute truth is not perceptive absolute truth is experiential and truth can only be expressed through action not through words. Another example is a todler though they dont understand our words they understand our actions if we use a cup they see how to use it and understand its purpose and thus what it is, ultimately things are their purpose. If we tell them to go get the cup without first showing them what a cup is they will not know what to get nor what it is used for but through our actions and relating the word to it they understand naturally. Ironically if you believe in relativism you will say that my view is subjective and is not ultimate truth.  Thus creating more delusion and more speculation. but i challenge you to look beyond my words and see for yourself. Slap yourself in the face with a sledge hammer and tell me the experience is not truth!!!!! It is the pain which is relativism based on comparing it to pleasure. But i assure you the experience is as truthfull as you will ever get.

Answer 4

This word is coming up more and more.

As a person that has lived over half his life, it seems to me that things were more "black and white" when I was growing up.

Perhaps every generations says that. But the first computer I had to program in BASIC had 64k memory; the phones were rotary, and only rich people had "car phones."

Today's young whippersnappers have life coming at you at 1GB per second.

So what I am trying to say is that you have a lot more experiences at a younger age, however, but they may not be meaningful. And what will you do after age 25 when you already have done it all?

Relativism means its harder today to distinguish the good parts from the bad.

This makes it harder to live a good life. Everything is relative to everything else.

Answer 5

A relativist believes that something has no absolute standard.  For at least that one thing, there is no universal yardstick... all we can do is compare one thing to another.

An example that has been demonstrated physically is motion.  This is part of Einstein's theory of relativity.  In space, you can't tell the difference if A is still and B is moving or if B is still and A is moving.  They are equally valid frames of reference.  There is no universal yardstick.

Some relativists suggest that many more - and perhaps ALL - things are relative.  Feelings, morals, cultures, politics.  It is possible to be a relativist on one issue and not on another, however.  And that is where most people tend to be.

Of all the types of relativists, moral relativists probably get the most attention.  They suggest that there is nothing that is universally right or wrong.  A common example is murder.  If you kill in self-defense, most of us would say that's okay.  So (a relativist would argue) murder isn't really BAD... just better and worse than other choices.

Answer 6

In the most simplistic terms, relativism can be a word to define the nature of perception or how we see things.  In scientific terms, it more applies to how the nature of reality may or may not be relative depending on what elements are interacting with each other in a particular space and time, such as the unprovable theory circulating out there that the nature of time actually slows down or dilates in the presence of extreme gravity such as that generated by a black hole.  Time, especially is thought to be relative because the universe seems to have pockets which occur here and there that produce the unusual reaction of slowing particular sections of it down or speeding them up -- of course this effect may or may not only be dependent upon the perception of time and not the illusion of time itself (time simply being man's method of measuring the motions of the universe.)  If the perception of motion slows down for humanity then it is assumed that time itself has slowed, when this may or may not be true.  We also assume time is relative due to the nature of the speed of light and the fact that when we look up at the stars we are actually seeing the light and position of the star as it was shining from minutes to years to eons ago depending upon the distance that it has from our planet.  The fact that we are unable to view the universe as it is also tends to generate some interesting questions concerning the idea of interstellar space travel, because in being unable to see the position of the stars as they are currently, we would then have to correctly calculate (and I mean with NO margin of error) the position of the stars based upon their paths of factually observed and cataloged stellar drift combined with variables on the speed of light and distance of the star in and of itself in order to figure out the difference between what we see as of now and where the star factually rests.  Therefore, to even correctly catalog the current position of the few stars we can see in our night sky alone would likely be impossible, making long-distance, high-speed interstellar space travel highly improbable for a species who cannot detect light as it is being generated verses how we currently see light as travels at its own rate of speed across a specific distance to reach the ocular nerve.

Relativism, is then, to me, more about perception than it is about the relation of elemental interaction, because it is hard to measure the nature of elemental interaction without perception, although the universe and the elements still will exist regardless as to whether they are perceived or measured by us.

Answer 7

Here's a good explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativism . Check out the link to moral relativism.

A statement such as "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is a relative statement. Within relativism there is included the realization that there are differing subjective views and values for what we perceive within reality. It would be an objective fact that those differing subjective views exist, although some people might be convinced that their view is no different than objective reality. On the subject ot moral relativism, it seems to me that many people come to the conclusion that they are not being immoral as long as they are not breaking the laws of the land. A sociopath may think that even though they harm others (or at least make them uncomfortable), because they are doing so only because they are persuing their own pleasure, that they are therefore not being immoral. Only if they went out of their way to harm someone and not derive pleasure would they be immoral according to them. I disagree with sociopaths. It is not right for me to be inconsiderate of others and how my actions affect them.

Answer 8

An example of relativism would be me thinking that "plss" and other annoying examples of "txt"ing don't belong anywhere other than annoying little cellphone devices, while you think it is no big deal to introduce them to wherever they seem convenient, and for us both to be right.