Relativism 1

Representational Content

Bibliographic Data

ID4079406
AuthorsMax Kölbel (0000-0003-0130-5976, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume10
Issue1
Pages38-51
Publication date2015-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1747-9991 • E-ISSN: 1747-9991
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/phc3.12190
OpenAlexW1527986372
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited49

In the pair of articles of which this is the first, I shall present a set of problems and philosophical proposals that have in recent years been associated with the term 'relativism'. All these problems and proposals concern the question of how we should represent thought and speech about certain topics. The main issue here is whether we should model such mental states or linguistic acts as involving representational contents that are absolutely correct or incorrect, or whether, alternatively, their correctness should be thought of as varying with some (more or less surprising) factor.In this, first, article, I shall discuss the general issue of relativism about representational content. I shall claim that there are legitimate ways of attributing contents that are absolute truth-bearers, and there are also equally legitimate ways of attributing relativistic representational contents.In the companion piece 'Relativism 2: Semantic Content', I look in more detail at the more specific question whether semantic contents (i.e. the contents assigned to linguistic utterances in the semantics of natural language) should be construed in an absolutist or a relativist way

Correctness · Epistemology · Linguistics · Metaphysics · Philosophy of language · Philosophy of mind · Relativism · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Psychology

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