Relativism

Relativism, an ancient philosophical doctrine, is once again a topic of heated debate. In this book, Maria Baghramian and Annalisa Coliva present the recent arguments for and against various forms of relativism. The first two chapters introduce the conceptual and historical contours of relativism. These are followed by critical investigations of relativism about truth, conceptual relativism, epistemic relativism, and moral relativism. The concluding chapter asks whether it is possible to make sense of relativism as a philosophical thesis. The book introduces readers to the main types of relativism and the arguments in their favor. It also goes beyond the expository material to engage in more detailed critical responses to the key positions and authors under discussion. Including chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, and a glossary, Relativism is essential reading for students of philosophy as well as those in related disciplines where relativism is studied, such as anthropology, sociology, and politics.

Maria Baghramian is Full Professor of American Philosophy, Head of the School of Philosophy, and Co-director of the Cognitive Science Programme at University College Dublin, Ireland. She is also a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. Her books include Relativism (2004), Reading Putnam (2013), Pragmatism and the European Traditions (edited with Sarin Marchetti 2017), and From Trust to Trustworthiness (2019), all published by Routledge. Annalisa Coliva is Full Professor, Chancellor Fellow, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine, USA. Her authored books include Moore and Wittgenstein: Scepticism, Certainty and Common Sense (2010), Extended Rationality: A Hinge Epistemology (2015), and The Varieties of Self-Knowledge (2016). For Routledge, she is preparing a book on Skepticism (with Duncan Pritchard).

Introduction 1. The What and Why of Relativism 2. A Brief History of a Complex Idea 3. Relativizing Truth 4. Relativizing Conceptual Schemes 5. Relativizing the World 6. Relativizing Science 7. Relativizing Justification 8. How to Formulate Epistemic Relativism 9. Relativizing Moral Values 10. Questioning Relativism. Glossary Bibliography