Editing Relativism (section)

{{Short description|Philosophical view rejecting objectivity}}
{{For|the physics theory|Theory of relativity}}
{{Citation style|date=September 2009}}
{{Epistemology sidebar}}

'''Relativism''' is a family of [[philosophical]] views which deny claims to [[Objectivity (philosophy)|objectivity]] within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed.<ref>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/] "The label "relativism" has been attached to a wide range of ideas and positions which may explain the lack of consensus on how the term should be defined."</ref>

There are many different forms of relativism, with a great deal of variation in scope and differing degrees of controversy among them.<ref>[[Maria Baghramian]] identifies 16 (''Relativism'', 2004, Baghramian)</ref> ''[[Moral relativism]]'' encompasses the differences in moral judgments among people and cultures.<ref name=stanford>{{Cite web | last = Swoyer | first = Chris | date = February 22, 2003 | title = Relativism | url = http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/#1.2 | access-date = May 10, 2010}}</ref> ''[[Factual relativism|Epistemic relativism]]'' holds that there are no absolute principles regarding normative [[belief]], [[Justification (epistemology)|justification]], or [[rationality]], and that there are only relative ones.<ref name="SEP Epistemic Relativism">{{cite web |title=Epistemic Relativism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/#EpiRel |website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=6 July 2020}}</ref> ''[[Factual relativism|Alethic relativism]]'' (also factual relativism) is the doctrine that there are no [[Universality (philosophy)|absolute truths]], i.e., that truth is always relative to some particular frame of reference, such as a language or a culture ([[cultural relativism]]), while [[Linguistic relativity|linguistic relativism]] asserts that a language's structures influence a speaker's perceptions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ahearn |first=Laura M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/729731177 |title=Living language : an introduction to linguistic anthropology |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4443-4056-3 |location=Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. |pages=69 |oclc=729731177}}</ref><ref>Baghramian, Maria and Carter, Adam, "Relativism", "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2015 Edition)", Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/relativism/#RelAboTruAleRel/ "Relativism about truth, or alethic relativism, at its simplest, is the claim that what is true for one individual or social group may not be true for another"</ref> Some forms of relativism also bear a resemblance to [[philosophical skepticism]].<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/#BriHisOldIde|title = The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|chapter = Relativism|year = 2021|publisher = Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref> ''Descriptive relativism'' seeks to describe the differences among cultures and people without evaluation, while normative relativism evaluates the word truthfulness of views within a given framework.