[MD] The Relativist's journey

[MarshaV]

Mark,

Please!  I think dmb should work harder to defend William James against this slanderous, hate-mongering accusation:  
 


“It was classic William James, imbued with a sense of the relativism of all knowledge, a respect for and curiosity about alternative perspectives, an instinct to analyze clearly and thoroughly but to develop a synthesis wherever possible, and a conviction that the truth of any idea or thing is best understood by observing its action in the world.

	(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/americancollection/american/genius/william_bio.html)



Marsha 
 





On Nov 22, 2011, at 12:12 AM, 118 wrote:

> Marsha,
> You are really chomping at the bit!  Give it a rest.
> 
> Mark
> 
> On Nov 21, 2011, at 2:07 PM, MarshaV <valkyr at att.net> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Hi dmb,
>> 
>> PLEASE SUPPLY THE SOURCE FOR THE DEFINITION OF RELATIVISM (the one in the nutshell) YOU SUPPLIED:
>> 
>> Relativism is the view that truth is relative to the culture or the individual, that there is no way to say that one truth is better than another.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Nov 21, 2011, at 3:59 PM, david buchanan wrote:
>> 
>>> Calling Pirsig a relativist is not only philosophically incorrect and inconsistent with the drama of the story, it's also kind of insulting. 
>> 
>> 
>> Marsha:
>> I have said I understand the MoQ to be epistemologically relativistic.  You keep conflating cultural relativism and epistemological relativism.   The quotes in Lila concerning the anthropologists are clearly about cultural relativism.  And you have not supplied the source for the definition you provided.    
>> 
>> Here is a standard (sourced) definition of relativism:
>> 
>> 
>> noun Philosophy .
>> any theory holding that criteria of judgment are relative, varying with individuals and their environments.  
>> 
>>   (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/relativism)  
>> 
>> Please note that it does not preclude judging which of competing truths may be better.  
>> 
> 


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