Relativism is an ancient philosophical doctrine which has recurred time and again in the history of philosophy. It has also transcended the boundaries of that discipline, for it has shaped much of the methodology in anthropology and sociology, as well as in critical theory and literary studies. While often advocated for its supposed tolerance of differences, relativism has profound consequences for how we think of reality, for the possibility of knowledge, both in the factual and in the moral domain, and may engender the practice of double standard.
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There are 4 modules in this course
Welcome to Module 1: Introduction to Relativism. In this module, we will explore how current issues in public debate (climate change denial, fake news, vaccine skepticism, religious and political extremism) trade on relativism, and how relativism may be thought of as being a source of good by promoting pluralism and tolerance. We will begin by defining Relativism, and review the various forms, including faultless disagreement, relativism of difference, and local vs. global Relativism.
What's included
2 videos1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt
Welcome to Module 2: Alethic Relativism. This week we will explore the structure of alethic relativism in Protagoras’ philosophy, examine the structure of contemporary alethic relativism, and identify the main objections to both forms of alethic relativism.
What's included
1 video1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt
Welcome to Module 3: Epistemic Relativism. In this module we will explore the structure of epistemic relativism and identify how epistemic relativism can be used to explain important events in the history of science and crucial discoveries in anthropology. We will also review the main objections to epistemic relativism and examine how the data provided by the history of science and anthropology could be understood without appealing to epistemic relativism.
What's included
1 video1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt
Welcome to Module 4: Moral Relativism. In this module we will explore the structure and framework of ethical relativism and review alethic relativism and relativism of distance as applied to ethics. We will identify the main objections to these forms of ethical relativism and recognize the difficulty of formulating a coherent relativist proposal. Finally, course participants are asked to apply their understanding of one of the forms of relativism and create a presentation to share their personal perspective.
What's included
1 video2 readings1 assignment1 peer review1 discussion prompt
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Recommended if you're interested in Philosophy
Universidade de São Paulo
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Geneva
Accenture
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Reviewed on Sep 6, 2020
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