Chapter 5: Relativism and Skepticism

Epistemic Justification

The type of justification appropriate for knowledge; is truth-conducive

Epistemology

The branch of philosophy that explores the nature of knowledge and attempts to work out a theoretical account of it

Knowledge

True belief with a rational account solidly connecting a statement to reality and showing that it is true

Logical Implication

To say that one statement P “implies” a second statement Q is to say that if P is true, then Q must be true

Objective Truth

Something that is true whether or not anyone believes that it is true

Relativism About Morality

The claim that if you believe something is right or good, then that makes it right or good for you, or relative to you, and there is no objective basis for anyone to say that you are mistaken

Cultural Alethic Relativism

The claim that truth is relative to culture; there is no basis outside a culture from which to say that one culture is right and another culture is wrong, on any matter

Cultural Relativism

Moral principles are true or false only relative to the culture or society in which one lives, and there is no rational or objective standard above the moral codes of the various cultures or societies by which any of those moral codes may be judged or criticized

Global Alethic Relativism

The claim that all truth claims, about all subject matters, are relative

Individual Alethic Relativism

The claim that all truth is relative to the individual; if you believe something is true, then it is true for you, and there is no basis for anyone to say that you are mistaken

Individual Moral Relativism

Holds that morality is relative to each individual; believing something to be morally right makes it morally right for you and there is no rational or objective basis for anyone to say you are mistaken

Relativism About Truth

The claim that if you believe something is true, then that makes it true/relative for you, and, furthermore, there is no objective basis for anyone to say that your belief is false/mistaken

Religious Alethic Relativism

The claim that religious claims are relative

Rhetoric

The art of persuasive speech

Skepticism

The claim that knowledge is imposssible

Global Skepticism

The claim that all knowledge, no matter what the subject matter is, is impossible

Religious Skepticism

The claim that there is such a thing as scientific knowledge, but denying that there is knowledge in matters of religion

Social Conformism

The view that one’s only moral obligation is to completely obey one’s society’s moral code and never criticize it, no matter what it requires

Sophist

A group of itinerant teachers traveling from one city-state to another, their specialty teaching rhetoric

Subjective Truth

A truth if its being true depends only on its being believed to be true