Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Relativism Versus Absolutism

Bibliographic Data

ID4853334
AuthorsDavid Bloor (corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume22
Issue3
Pages488-499
Publication date2016-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommon Knowledge (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0961-754X • E-ISSN: 1538-4578
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/0961754x-3622372
OpenAlexW2514057943
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited3

This essay is a follow-up to a previous article by the author, "Epistemic Grace: Antirelativism as Theology in Disguise," published in Common Knowledge 13, nos. 2-3 (2007): 250-80. Its central claim was that relativism and absolutism should be understood as categories that are mutually exclusive and jointly exhaustive; the two categories form a dichotomy, and thus the rejection of absolutism is a necessary and sufficient condition for the embrace of relativism and vice versa. Daniel Paksi, in a essay titled "Relativism or Absolutism? David Bloor and the Snares of an Unfortunate Dichotomy," claims that it is possible to adopt a position, a "third way," that is neither relativist nor absolutist. He proposes that the "emergentism" of Michael Polanyi is such a third way. In response, David Bloor argues that Paksi's proposed third way is beset by profound and well-known problems of obscurity-specifically, by what is sometimes called the two-worlds problem. Bloor claims that the dichotomy of relativism and absolutism is more intelligible and more defensible than the emergentism that Paksi defends and concludes that the only ism between relativism and absolutism is obscurantism

Absolute monarchy · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Relativism · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Theology and Philosophy of Evil

  • Evidence, justification, and epistemic standards

    Open Access•Felix Jacoby•Synthese•2023

  • The elementary forms of the religious life

    Emile Durkheim•The elementary forms of the…•1915

  • The Open Society and Its Enemies

    Karl Popper•Open Society and Its Enemies•2012

  • Epistemic Grace

    David Bloor•Common Knowledge•2007

Unique citing works1
Citations per year0,33
Citation span2023 - 2023 (1)
Citation velocityhistorical
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 1

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae