Context, content, and relativism

Context, Content, and Relativism∗

Here is a simple and inviting picture: the semantic values of sentences, relative to contexts, are sets of possible worlds. These are the truth conditions of assertions of those sentences in contexts. They are thus the contents of assertions, or the objects of attitudes we might take towards such contents. There have been many questions raised about the simple picture. For instance, sets of wor...

Objectivity , Relativism and Context Dependence

Paradox and Relativism

Since the time of Plato, relativism has been attacked as a self-refuting theory. Today, there are two basic kinds of argument that are used to show that global relativism is logically incoherent: first, a direct descendent of the argument Plato uses against Protagoras, called the peritrope; and, second, a more recent argument that relativism leads to an infinite regress. Although some relativis...

Indexical Relativism versus Genuine Relativism

The main purpose of this paper is to characterize and compare two forms any relativist thesis can take: indexical relativism and genuine relativism. Indexical relativists claim that the implicit indexicality of certain sentences is the only source of relativity. Genuine relativists, by contrast, claim that there is relativity not just at the level of sentences, but also at propositional level. ...

Relativism: Protagoras and Nelson Goodman

پروتاگوراس در یونان باستان و نلسون گودمن در دورۀ جدید دو تن از برجسته­ترین مدافعان نسبی­گرایی به شمار می­روند. گاه ممکن است نثر آن دو فریبنده بنماید، و چه بسا این امر شرح و تفسیر منظور و مراد حقیقی آنها را دشوار سازد. پروتاگوراس و گودمن، با وجود برخی تفاوتها، به دفاع از این دیدگاه به ظاهر افراطی می­پردازند که همه وقایع، به معنای حقیقی کلمه، وابسته به دیدگاه انسان است. هدف این مقاله شرح و بررسی ...