relativism?

Question

i was just wondering what are your thoughts about relativism?
do you think everything is relative or are there certain things that we all must agree about?

if this sounds like a homework question your write
it was a question in my last nights homework packet for my philosophy class. my friend and i had an argument about this and so i just wanted others insight about this question and to see if other people agrre with my opinion

Answer 1

if by relative you mean all things are subjective in nature, then i would say yes. the concrete and abstract as terms may be universal in nature in their true form, but the experience of such things would have to be relative.....unless you can crawl around omnisciently in others heads to verify a universal experience....they must be relative and subjective

Answer 2

Depends on what kind of relativism you're talking about. To the extent that we know anything, there seems to be a reality that is independent on what we think about it. Therefore, there is an objective truth.

However, our perception of reality has to be, by definition, subjective. We all see things filtered through our own senses and our own minds.

Sometimes when people talk about relativism, they are actually talking about moral relativism. Morals are the set of what we think is good and bad. By deifnition, things are good relative to those that we believe are worse. Morals are inherently relativistic. The characteristic of good or bad is not in the object observed, but in the beholder's eyes. There is no objective badness or goodness about an object or event.

Answer 3

I have heard relativists assert that there are no moral absolutes. That view cannot be correct since acts such as rape, murder or torturing children just for fun seem to be inherently wrong in any state of affairs. Even if some cultures do not view such acts as immoral, that does not mean that such acts are not immoral by nature. Read Plato and Aristotle, particularly the Nicomachean Ethics by the latter philosopher. Aristotle contends that certain acts are wrong in themselves, regardless of what humans think.

Answer 4

any ism is a desperate attempt to piece together an understanding of time and space.

relativism is defined as: "the view that truth is relative and not absolute. It varies from people to people, time to time"


however:
perspective is indeed infinite and can not bounce from one point of view to another. so by definition, relativism in an infinite perspective holds no water since you have but one eternal & infinite point of perspective: that we all in fact, share.

Answer 5

Relativism would hold that: if p then q, if p then not q

Both are correct and theree is no contradiction.

This is absurd. Remember; ther can be many answers, but there can not be just any answer.

Answer 6

we must all agree, that all things are relative only to our state of mind and perception of truth.

Answer 7

its to messy if we think everything is relative. i think there are things that just have to be absolute -- like killing someone (not out of self-defense) is just plain wrong. i think to some degree morality should be absolute. just my two cents.