From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Thu Nov 01 2001 - 14:46:00 MST
> > Hiding behind your absolute relativism dogma doesn't help you. It only
> > assures that you are what John Clark says you are. Relativism is the
> > last refuge of the indecisive fool.
>
> I see. If I never change my position in light of more
> considerations then I am hidebound and certainly a dogmatist.
> If I do then I am an indecive fool. In any case you "win".
> This is childish and quite boring.
Relativism and non-dogmatism are not the same thing. Dogmatism is
holding a position in spite of evidence; relativism is failure to
hold a position at all.
A moral absolutist, like me, is not someone who decides what's
right and wrong once and never changes; I just believe that there
exists an absolute right and wrong--what changes with evidence is
my belief about what they are, and only my belief. For example, a
relativist might hold that slavery was morally justified in earlier
times, but that it is wrong in today's culture. Or that sunjugation
of women is acceptable in Muslim culture but not in ours. I would
hold that slavery has always been wrong and always will be, but that
our culture didn't discover or recognize that fact until recently.
Likewise, subjugation of women is morally wrong, everywhere, but
some cultures fail to recognize this.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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