对相对主义的反思:从重要的重言式到诱人的矛盾式

Reflections on Relativism: From Momentous Tautology to Seductive Contradiction

苏珊·哈克提供了一个分析相对主义的统一框架,将蒯因的本体论相对性等诸多论题都纳入相对主义的范围内来讨论。她区分了浅层相对主义和深层相对主义,前者是指讨论的主题会随着不同的因素而变化,后者是指只有相对于某些因素,这些主题才有意义。哈克应用她的这种区分,探讨了罗蒂的认知相对主义。哈克没有给出对相对主义的直接反驳,但是通过与普特南的概念相对主义的详细对比,描绘了一种她称为“坦陈实在论”的理论,以表明引发特定形式的相对主义的考虑可以怎样以非相对主义的方式得到安置。

Susan Haack provided a unified framework for the analysis of relativism,bringing many theses like Quine’s ontological relativity into the scope of relativism.She distinguished between shallow relativism and deep relativism.The former is that the subjects of discussion vary with different factors.The latter is that only relative to certain factors can these subjects be meaningful.Using this distinction,Haack explored Rorty’s epistemic relativism.She did not give a direct refutation to relativism,but through a detailed comparison with Putnam’s conceptual relativism,she described a theory she called“innocent realism”to show how the considerations that motivated certain forms of relativism could be accommodated in a non-relativist way.