Philosophy 1230A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Cognitive Bias, Moral Relativism, Cultural Relativism

• School: Western University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: Philosophy 1230A/B
• Professor: Jonathan Marsh

Document Summary

Psychological obstacles chapter 4: (cid:862)a(cid:374) u(cid:374)(cid:272)o(cid:374)s(cid:272)ious i(cid:373)pulse or (cid:373)e(cid:272)ha(cid:374)is(cid:373), ofte(cid:374) (cid:272)alled a (cid:862)(cid:272)og(cid:374)iti(cid:448)e (cid:271)ias(cid:863), (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h can skew our perception of the world and distort our judg(cid:373)e(cid:374)t(cid:863) Philosophical obstacles chapter 5: (cid:862)[f]u(cid:374)de(cid:373)e(cid:374)tal (cid:271)elief[s] the adoptio(cid:374) of (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h (cid:272)a(cid:374) (cid:271)lo(cid:272)k [or pre(cid:448)e(cid:374)t] (cid:272)riti(cid:272)al thinking. Herrick, 113 (cid:862) urely (cid:374)o other o(cid:271)sta(cid:272)le to thi(cid:374)ki(cid:374)g (cid:272)riti(cid:272)ally is (cid:373)ore prevale(cid:374)t today tha(cid:374) relativis(cid:373) about truth(cid:863) herrick, p. 136. Protagoras (490 420 bce: plato"s so-(cid:272)alled (cid:862)ar(cid:272)he(cid:374)e(cid:373)y(cid:863) (cid:862)ma(cid:374) is the (cid:373)easure of all thi(cid:374)gs(cid:863) Plato (429 (cid:1007)(cid:1008)7 bce(cid:895)(cid:895) is u(cid:374)happy (cid:449)ith protagora"s . Reductio ad absurdum . : plato"s elf-refutation argument. Making it self-contradictory: moreover, whoever is self-contradictory is false, therefore, the measure doctrine is false. Herrick thinks there are other problems for (what we call) global individual relativism. For instance, he urges that this view makes it impossible for anyone to be wrong about anything: but this outcome (that we are all infallible), he insists is absurd.