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Single Idea 612

[filed under theme 13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 6. Relativism Critique ]

Full Idea

In fact there is no difference between Protagoreanism and saying this: if you stick your finger under your eyes and make single things seem two, then they are two, just because they seem to be two.

Clarification

'Protagoreanism' is the relativist view that there is no truth, but only individual points of view

Gist of Idea

Relativists think if you poke your eye and see double, there must be two things

Source

comment on Protagoras (fragments/reports [c.441 BCE]) by Aristotle - Metaphysics 1063a06

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.331

The 19 ideas with the same theme [criticism of the idea that there are only points of view]:

247 God is "the measure of all things", more than any man [Plato on Protagoras]
606 Protagoras absurdly thought that the knowing or perceiving man is 'the measure of all things' [Aristotle on Protagoras]
612 Relativists think if you poke your eye and see double, there must be two things [Aristotle on Protagoras]
335 Do the gods also hold different opinions about what is right and honourable? [Plato]
2053 If you claim that all beliefs are true, that includes beliefs opposed to your own [Plato]
2054 Clearly some people are superior to others when it comes to medicine [Plato]
2059 How can a relativist form opinions about what will happen in the future? [Plato]
20921 How can we state relativism of sweet and sour, if they have no determinate nature? [Theophrastus]
576 If the majority had diseased taste, and only a few were healthy, relativists would have to prefer the former [Aristotle]
7620 Some kind of objective 'rightness' is a presupposition of thought itself [Putnam]
6398 Different points of view make sense, but they must be plotted on a common background [Davidson]
4244 It is very confused to deduce a nonrelativist morality of universal toleration from relativism [Williams,B]
4243 Our ability to react to an alien culture shows that ethical thought extends beyond cultural boundaries [Williams,B]
2065 Not every person is the measure of all things, but only wise people [Plato on Kim]
1550 Why didn't Protagoras begin by saying "a tadpole is the measure of all things"? [Plato on Kim]
3857 Defeat relativism by emphasising truth and reference, not meaning [Newton-Smith]
1577 Relativism is a disease which destroys the possibility of rational debate [Roochnik]
3878 Why should you believe someone who says there are no truths? [Scruton]
7066 If the world is just texts or social constructs, what are texts and social constructs? [Heil]