more from this thinker     |     more from this text


Single Idea 585

[filed under theme 13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 3. Subjectivism ]

Full Idea

If things are true relative to an individual, how can something seem honey to the sight but not to the taste, or, given that we have two eyes, things may not seem the same to the sight of both of them.

Gist of Idea

If relativism is individual, how can something look sweet and not taste it, or look different to our two eyes?

Source

Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1011a24)

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.105


The 22 ideas with the same theme [knowledge is entirely 'down to the individual']:

Health, feeding and rest are only made good by disease, hunger and weariness [Heraclitus]
One vision is produced by both eyes [Empedocles]
You can only state the problem of the relative warmth of an object by agreeing on the underlying object [Benardete,JA on Protagoras]
If my hot wind is your cold wind, then wind is neither hot nor cold, and so not as cold as itself [Benardete,JA on Protagoras]
If truth is relative it is relational, and concerns appearances relative to a situation [Aristotle]
If relativism is individual, how can something look sweet and not taste it, or look different to our two eyes? [Aristotle]
That honey is sweet I do not affirm, but I agree that it appears so [Timon]
Water that seems lukewarm can seem very hot on inflamed skin [Sext.Empiricus]
Sickness is perfectly natural to the sick, so their natural perceptions should carry some weight [Sext.Empiricus]
Some actions seem shameful when sober but not when drunk [Sext.Empiricus]
If we enjoy different things, presumably we receive different impressions [Sext.Empiricus]
If we had no hearing or sight, we would assume no sound or sight exists, so there may be unsensed qualities [Sext.Empiricus]
A hot hand and a cold hand will have different experiences in the same tepid water [Berkeley]
Man never understands how anthropomorphic he is [Goethe]
Nietzsche's perspectivism says our worldview depends on our personality [Nietzsche, by Fogelin]
It would be absurd to say we are only permitted our own single perspective [Nietzsche]
Comprehending everything is impossible, because it abolishes perspectives [Nietzsche]
Is the perspectival part of the essence, or just a relation between beings? [Nietzsche]
'Perspectivism': the world has no meaning, but various interpretations give it countless meanings [Nietzsche]
'Subjectivity' is an interpretation, since subjects (and interpreters) are fictions [Nietzsche]
There are different eyes, so different 'truths', so there is no truth [Nietzsche]
'Subjectivism' is an extension of relativism from the social group to the individual [Graham]