#relativism

Babette looked too good for the place tonight, but then goodness is only relative after all ("Steps Going Up" aka "Guillotine" aka "Men Must Die") ↗

— Cornell Woolrich

#moral-relativism #men

With no fact as a referent, what is normative is purely a matter of preference. ↗

— Ravi Zacharias

#relativism #atheism

The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights. ↗

— Shirin Ebadi

#excuse #human #human rights #idea #nothing

You heard him say it? 'Pain's the only evil I know about.' You heard that?" The monk nodded solemnly. "And that society is the only thing that determines whether an act is wrong or not? That too?" "Yes." "Dearest God, how did those two heresies get back into the world after all this time? Hell has limited imaginations down there. 'The serpent deceived me, and I did eat. ↗

— Walter M. Miller Jr.

#pain #relativism #religion #imagination

Insularity is the foundation of ethnocentrism and intolerance; when you only know of those like yourself, it is easy to imagine that you are alone in the world or alone in being good and right in the world. Exposure to diversity, on the contrary, is the basis for relativism and tolerance; when you are forced to face and accept the Other as real, unavoidable, and ultimately valuable, you cannot help but see yourself and your 'truths' in a new - and trouble - way. ↗

— David Eller

#intolerance #relativism #tolerance #imagination

During the next hundred years, the question for those who love liberty is whether we can survive the most insidious and duplicitous attacks from within, from those who undermine the virtues of our people, doing in advance the work of the Father of Lies. “There is no such thing as truth,” they teach even the little ones. “Truth is bondage. Believe what seems right to you. There are as many truths as there are individuals. Follow your feelings. Do as you please. Get in touch with your self. Do what feels comfortable.” Those who speak in this way prepare the jails of the twenty-first century. They do the work of tyrants. ↗

— Michael Novak

#tyranny #love

It is reasonable to love the Absolute absolutely for the same reason it is reasonable to love the relative relatively. ↗

— Peter Kreeft

#absolutism #catholicism #christianity #god #jesus-shock

The knife of historical relativism... which has cut to pieces all metaphysics and religion must also bring about healing. ↗

— Wilhelm Dilthey

#also #bring #cut #healing #historical

Relativism is neither a method of fighting, nor a method of creating, for both of these are uncompromising and at times even ruthless; rather, it is a method of cognition. ↗

— Karel Capek

#cognition #creating #even #fighting #method

Relativism poses as humble by saying: “We are not smart enough to know what the truth is—or if there is any universal truth.” It sounds humble. But look carefully at what is happening. It’s like a servant saying: I am not smart enough to know which person here is my master—or if I even have a master. The result is that I don’t have a master and I can be my own master. That is in reality what happens to relativists: In claiming to be too lowly to know the truth, they exalt themselves as supreme arbiter of what they can think and do. This is not humility. This is the essence of pride. ↗

— John Piper

#pride #relativism #life