Protagoras and the Challenge of Relativism

Protagoras and the Challenge of Relativism PDF Author: Dr Ugo Zilioli
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 1409485455
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Protagoras was an important Greek thinker of the fifth century BC, the most famous of the so called Sophists, though most of what we know of him and his thought comes to us mainly through the dialogues of his strenuous opponent Plato. In this book, Ugo Zilioli offers a sustained and philosophically sophisticated examination of what is, in philosophical terms, the most interesting feature of Protagoras' thought for modern readers: his role as the first Western thinker to argue for relativism. Zilioli relates Protagoras' relativism with modern forms of relativism, in particular the 'robust relativism' of Joseph Margolis, gives an integrated account both of the perceptual relativism examined in Plato's Theaetetus and the ethical or social relativism presented in the first part of Plato's Protagoras and offers an integrated and positive analysis of Protagoras' thought, rather than focusing on ancient criticisms and responses to his thought. This is a deeply scholarly work which brings much argument to bear to the claim that Protagoras was and remains Plato's subtlest philosophical enemy.

The Challenge of Relativism

The Challenge of Relativism PDF Author: Patrick J.J. Phillips
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441178856
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
Offering a comprehensive overview and introduction to the concept of relativism and relativistic arguments this book surveys important relativist philosophers, both classical and modern.

Fear of Knowledge

Fear of Knowledge PDF Author: Paul Boghossian
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191622753
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
The academic world has been plagued in recent years by scepticism about truth and knowledge. Paul Boghossian, in his long-awaited first book, sweeps away relativist claims that there is no such thing as objective truth or knowledge, but only truth or knowledge from a particular perspective. He demonstrates clearly that such claims don't even make sense. Boghossian focuses on three different ways of reading the claim that knowledge is socially constructed - one as a thesis about truth and two about justification. And he rejects all three. The intuitive, common-sense view is that there is a way things are that is independent of human opinion, and that we are capable of arriving at belief about how things are that is objectively reasonable, binding on anyone capable of appreciating the relevant evidence regardless of their social or cultural perspective. Difficult as these notions may be, it is a mistake to think that recent philosophy has uncovered powerful reasons for rejecting them. This short, lucid, witty book shows that philosophy provides rock-solid support for common sense against the relativists; it will prove provocative reading throughout the discipline and beyond.

Natural Moralities

Natural Moralities PDF Author: David B Wong
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199724849
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
In this book, David B. Wong defends an ambitious and important new version of moral relativism. He does not espouse the type of relativism that says anything goes, but he does start with a relativist stance against alternative theories such that there need not be only one universal truth. Wong proposes that there can be a plurality of true moralities existing across different traditions and cultures, all with one core human question as to how we can all live together.

Protagoras and the Challenge of Relativism

Protagoras and the Challenge of Relativism PDF Author: Ugo Zilioli
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317074475
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
Protagoras was an important Greek thinker of the fifth century BC, the most famous of the so called Sophists, though most of what we know of him and his thought comes to us mainly through the dialogues of his strenuous opponent Plato. In this book, Ugo Zilioli offers a sustained and philosophically sophisticated examination of what is, in philosophical terms, the most interesting feature of Protagoras' thought for modern readers: his role as the first Western thinker to argue for relativism. Zilioli relates Protagoras' relativism with modern forms of relativism, in particular the 'robust relativism' of Joseph Margolis, gives an integrated account both of the perceptual relativism examined in Plato's Theaetetus and the ethical or social relativism presented in the first part of Plato's Protagoras and offers an integrated and positive analysis of Protagoras' thought, rather than focusing on ancient criticisms and responses to his thought. This is a deeply scholarly work which brings much argument to bear to the claim that Protagoras was and remains Plato's subtlest philosophical enemy.

The Elements of Moral Philosophy 7e

The Elements of Moral Philosophy 7e PDF Author: James Rachels
Publisher: McGraw Hill
ISBN: 0077147987
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Firmly established as the standard text for undergraduate courses in ethics, James Rachels and Stuart Rachels’ The Elements of Moral Philosophy introduces readers to major moral concepts and theories through eloquent explanations and compelling, thought-provoking discussions.

Relativism and Religion

Relativism and Religion PDF Author: Carlo Invernizzi Accetti
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 023154037X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Moral relativism is deeply troubling for those who believe that, without a set of moral absolutes, democratic societies will devolve into tyranny or totalitarianism. Engaging directly with this claim, Carlo Invernizzi Accetti traces the roots of contemporary anti-relativist fears to the antimodern rhetoric of the Catholic Church and then rescues a form of philosophical relativism for modern, pluralist societies, arguing that this viewpoint provides the firmest foundation for an allegiance to democracy. In his analyses of the relationship between religious arguments and political authority and the implications of philosophical relativism for democratic theory, Accetti makes a far-ranging contribution to contemporary debates over the revival of religion in politics and the conceptual grounds for a commitment to democracy. He presents the first comprehensive genealogy of anti-relativist discourse and reclaims for English-speaking readers the overlooked work of Hans Kelsen on the connection between relativism and democracy. By engaging with contemporary attempts to replace the religious foundation of democratic values with a neo-Kantian conception of reason, Accetti also makes a powerful case for relativism as the best basis for a civic ethos that integrates different perspectives into democratic politics.

Social Science and the Challenge of Relativism: Claims of Knowledge, on the Labor of Making Found Worlds. Vol. 2

Social Science and the Challenge of Relativism: Claims of Knowledge, on the Labor of Making Found Worlds. Vol. 2 PDF Author: Lawrence E Hazelrigg
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780585201788
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Relativism

Relativism PDF Author: Francis J. Beckwith
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 0801058066
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
A critique of moral relativism, the belief that there exists no objective moral standards that apply to every place, person, and time.

Against Relativism

Against Relativism PDF Author: Christopher Norris
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780631198642
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
This book offers a vigorous and constructive challenge to relativism by examining a wide range of anti-realist theories, and in response offering a variety of arguments amounting to a strong defence of critical realism in the natural and social sciences.