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Single Idea 4423
[filed under theme 13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 1. Relativism
]
Full Idea
We have fixed up a world for ourselves in which we can live, with bodies, lines, planes, causes, motion and form; without these articles of faith nobody would endure life. But that does not mean they have been proved. Life is no argument.
Gist of Idea
We assume causes, geometry, motion, bodies etc to live, but they haven't been proved
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay (Joyful) Science [1882], §121)
Book Ref
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Gay Science', ed/tr. Kaufmann,Walter [Vintage 1974], p.177
A Reaction
It is hard to disagree. A lot of recent thought suggests that they are Hume's 'natural beliefs', like truth and induction, which simply can't be proved. 'Unprovable' does not mean 'incorrect', however.
The
31 ideas
with the same theme
[knowledge varies according to points of view]:
412
|
If God had not created honey, men would say figs are sweeter
[Xenophanes]
|
417
|
Donkeys prefer chaff to gold
[Heraclitus]
|
426
|
Sea water is life-giving for fish, but not for people
[Heraclitus]
|
436
|
A dog seems handsome to another a dog, and even a pig to another pig
[Epicharmus]
|
3305
|
There is no more purely metaphysical doctrine than Protagorean relativism
[Benardete,JA on Protagoras]
|
1547
|
Man is the measure of all things - of things that are, and of things that are not
[Protagoras]
|
1803
|
Objects vary according to which sense perceives them (Mode 3)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1805
|
Judgements vary according to local culture and law (Mode 5)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1807
|
Perception varies with viewing distance and angle (Mode 7)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1810
|
Perception and judgement depend on comparison (Mode 10)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1808
|
Perception of things depends on their size or quantity (Mode 8)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1806
|
Perception of objects depends on surrounding conditions (Mode 6)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1809
|
Perception is affected by expectations (Mode 9)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1802
|
Individuals vary in responses and feelings (Mode 2)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1801
|
Animals vary in their feelings and judgements (Mode 1)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1804
|
Perception varies with madness or disease (Mode 4)
[Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1483
|
Bath water is too hot for some, too cold for others
[Epicurus, by Plutarch]
|
1482
|
If two people disagree over taste, who is right?
[Epicurus, by Plutarch]
|
1487
|
When entering a dark room it is colourless, but colour gradually appears
[Epicurus]
|
1814
|
Everything is perceived in relation to another thing (Mode 13)
[Agrippa, by Diog. Laertius]
|
1874
|
How can we judge between our impressions and those of other animals, when we ourselves are involved?
[Sext.Empiricus]
|
6578
|
For Kant, experience is relative to a scheme, but there are no further possible schemes
[Kant, by Fogelin]
|
24124
|
We now have innumerable perspectives to draw on
[Nietzsche]
|
23209
|
Each of our personal drives has its own perspective
[Nietzsche]
|
4423
|
We assume causes, geometry, motion, bodies etc to live, but they haven't been proved
[Nietzsche]
|
4420
|
There is only 'perspective' seeing and knowing, and so the best objectivity is multiple points of view
[Nietzsche]
|
4486
|
The extreme view is there are only perspectives, no true beliefs, because there is no true world
[Nietzsche]
|
7424
|
Saying games of truth were merely power relations would be a horrible exaggeration
[Foucault]
|
21942
|
Foucault challenges knowledge in psychology and sociology, not in the basic sciences
[Foucault, by Gutting]
|
4709
|
Ontological relativists are anti-realists, who deny that our theories carve nature at the joints
[O'Grady]
|
6583
|
Radical perspectivism replaces Kant's necessary scheme with many different schemes
[Fogelin]
|