Relativism, Truth, and Reality

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Relativism, Truth, and Reality
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The Realist

• Wood combines with phlogiston, of negative
  weight, when it burns, to leave ash the ash
  weighs less that the wood thus phlogiston is of
  negative weight.

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The Relativist-Solipsist

• If you believe burning wood combines with
  phlogiston, thats fine. Its true for you, but
  not for me, for I dont believe it.

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The Cultural-Relativist

• In your society burning wood combines with
  phlogiston, but not in my society. Truth is
  relative to societies.

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The Incommensurabilist-relativist

• According to your conceptual scheme, burning wood
  combines with phlogiston, but in my conceptual
  scheme this doesnt hold truth is relative to
  conceptual schemes.

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The Idealist-Relativist

• Burning wood combines with phlogiston if I
  believe it does, for we create our own reality.

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The Fideistic Relativist

• If enough of us believe burning wood combines
  with phlogiston, it will become the truth.

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The Poststructuralist-Relativist

• It doesnt matter whether burning wood combines
  with phlogiston or not the very idea is
  metaphorical, like all language use, and as
  metaphorical, its all relative.

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Objective Idealism
C. S. Peirce

• 1. If after weighing the wood and the ash
  remaining after the wood has burned
  (objectivism), we might imagine, and venture the
  conjecture (idealism), that phlogiston is of
  negative weight. But the very idea of negative
  weight, however faithful it coincides with
  experience, is counterintuitive. So we should
  continue our search for a better answer.

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• 2. The premises behind this posture are
• No contradiction, conundrum, or paradox, no new
  knowledge.
• Just because an idea hasnt been refuted doesnt
  mean its true.
• Just because an idea hasnt been proven doesnt
  mean its false.
• When evaluating an idea look for disconfirming as
  well as confirming evidence.
• In other words, look for the unexpected, the
  bizarre, the weird.

• In other words, if youre more wrong that right,
  your probably on the right track. In other
  words, make mistakes (catch yourselv in your own
  lies) as quickly as possible.

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• But a great truth is such that its complementits
  complementary otheris also true (Niels Bohr).
• So take truth and lie into equal consideration.

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• Relativism all this? Yes, and no. Yes, because
  there are many possible truths (world versions
  Nelson Goodman). No, because all possible
  truths are ONE but well never have the ONE, so
  well continue imagining new possible truths
  (idealism ?) and discarding them in favor of
  other possibilities that emerge and promise more
  success (? objectivism).

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Creativity mistakes with survival value?Quite
likely, for there is more in human life and in
the physical world than our theories of them
allow.