A Companion to Relativism

Relativism is one of philosophy′s oldest –– and most polarizing –– concepts. It has captivated thinkers since the days of Protagoras (who supported the notion) and Plato (who did not). Relativism is assailed by popes as leading people away from absolute religious truths, and blamed by social commentators for many of society’s ills. With a few notable exceptions, 20th–century philosophers grew to dismiss relativism as an obviously mistaken or even self–refuting concept. But in the past decade, even its staunchest philosophical critics have come to realize that relativism is a legitimate option for explaining a variety of phenomena, including faultless disagreement, the utility of alternative logics, varieties of cross–cultural moralities, and differing ontological conceptual schemes. Reflecting this overdue reappraisal, A Companion to Relativism presents the latest thinking on the role of relativism in the philosophy of language, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of science, logic, and metaphysics. Original contributions to this volume feature cutting edge thinking from a variety of eminent scholars who approach relativism from various perspectives and philosophical subfields.

Notes on Contributors viii Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Part I Characterizing Relativism 9 1 Global Relativism and Self–Refutation 11 Max Kölbel 2 Relativism Requires Alternatives, Not Disagreement or Relative Truth 31 Carol Rovane 3 Three Kinds of Relativism 53 Paul Boghossian 4 Varieties of Relativism and the Reach of Reasons 70 Michael Krausz Part II Truth and Language 85 5 Truth Relativism and Truth Pluralism 87 Michael P. Lynch 6 The Many Relativisms: Index, Context, and Beyond 102 Dan López de Sa 7 Variation in Intuitions about Reference and Ontological Disagreements 118 Edouard Machery 8 Centered Worlds and the Content of Perception 137 Berit Brogaard 9 Conceptual Relativism 159 Kenneth A. Taylor 10 The Limits of Relativism in the Late Wittgenstein 179 Patricia Hanna and Bernard Harrison Part III Epistemic Relativism 199 11 Epistemological Relativism: Arguments Pro and Con 201 Harvey Siegel 12 Relativism About Epistemic Modals 219 Andy Egan 13 Relativism and Confi rmation Theory 242 Igor Douven 14 Epistemic Relativism, Epistemic Incommensurability, and Wittgensteinian Epistemology 266 Duncan Pritchard 15 Relativism and Contextualism 286 Patrick Rysiew Part IV Moral Relativism 307 16 Relativism in Contemporary Liberal Political Philosophy 309 Graham M. Long 17 Secularism, Liberalism, and Relativism 326 Akeel Bilgrami 18 Moral Relativism and Moral Psychology 346 Christian B. Miller 19 Bare Bones Moral Realism and the Objections from Relativism 368 Mark Balaguer 20 Virtue Ethics and Moral Relativism 391 Christopher W. Gowans 21 Relativist Explanations of Interpersonal and Group Disagreement 411 David B. Wong Part V Relativism in the Philosophy of Science 431 22 Relativism and the Sociology of Scientifi c Knowledge 433 David Bloor 23 Incommensurability and Theory Change 456 Howard Sankey 24 Thomas Kuhn’s Relativistic Legacy 475 Alexander Bird 25 Anti–Realism and Relativism 489 Christopher Norris Part VI Logical, Mathematical, and Ontological Relativism 509 26 Horror Contradictionis 511 Johan Van Benthem 27 Varieties of Pluralism and Relativism for Logic 526 Stewart Shapiro 28 Relativism in Set Theory and Mathematics 553 Otávio Bueno 29 Putnam’s Model–Theoretic Argument 569 Maximilian de Gaynesford 30 Quine’s Ontological Relativity 588 Gary L. Hardcastle 31 Carving Up a Reality in Which There are no Joints 604 Crawford L. Elder Index 621

Steven D. Hales is Professor of Philosophy at Bloomsburg University, Pennsylvania. He is the author of Relativism and the Foundations of Philosophy (2006) and the co–author of Nietzsche’s Perspectivism (2000). He was recently Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, School for Advanced Study, University of London, and is the author of numerous articles on relativism in journals such as Mind, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and Synthese.