Epistemological Relativism

1
Epistemological Relativism

• MotivationsSee Lawhead p. 129.

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The Basic Idea

• Many ways to know the world
• All justification is the same
• TRUTH does not exist
• Objectivism is false
• Support

3
Key PointsObjectivism versus Relativism

• Objectivism
• Relativism

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Key PointsSkepticism versus Relativism

• Similarity
• Difference

5
Key PointsTypes of Relativism

• Knowledge or truth is relative to what?
• Subjectivism
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Jean Paul Sartre.
• Cultural Relativism (conventionalism in ethics)
• V. O. Quine
• Historical Relativism
• Georg Hegel

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Criticisms of Relativism

• No criticism of other epistemologies
• The minority cannot know
• To The idea of culture or society is difficult to
  define.

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Application of RelativismCarlos Castanedas
Cultural Relativism

• Motivations
• See thought experiment p. 141
• Background
• Born 1925 (?)
• Birthplace Cajamarca, Peru
• Death 27 April 1998
• Best Known As Author of The Teachings of don
  Juan

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Castanedas Cultural Relativism

• The Teachings of don Juan A Yaqui Way of
  Knowledge
• A Clash of Cultural Worldviews
• pp. 142-143 in Lawhead