Attribution and Explanation in Relativism
Abstract Is relativism a coherent thesis? The paper argues for a new view of relativism that opposes both classic and contemporary views. On this view, the thesis of relativism is coherent even if the key notions in the standard apparatus of relativism—of alternative conceptual schemes, relative tru...
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| Published in | The Philosophical quarterly |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
29.05.2023
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| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Abstract
Is relativism a coherent thesis? The paper argues for a new view of relativism that opposes both classic and contemporary views. On this view, the thesis of relativism is coherent even if the key notions in the standard apparatus of relativism—of alternative conceptual schemes, relative truth, perspectival content—are all incoherent. The view defended here highlights issues about attitude attribution and explanation in formulating the thesis of relativism and it proposes a surprising connection between relativism and nonsense. The paper argues further that the thesis of relativism, so understood, is coherent, by considering different accounts of the semantics of attitude attributions in their application to the attribution of nonsensical thinking. |
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| ISSN: | 0031-8094 1467-9213 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/pq/pqad055 |