Factual relativism
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Factual relativism is a mode of reasoning which extends relativism and subjectivism to factual matter and reason. In factual relativism the facts used to establish the truth or falsehood of any statement are understood to be relative to the perspecitve of those proving or falsifying the proposition [1]
Factual Relativism is a tactic of pseudoscientific claims that argue against the validity of well-established scientific facts and rules of thumb by deliberately muddling the issue at hand.
Factual relativists attempt to sow doubts in the minds of non-experts, often as part of pursuing vested political, religious or financial interests. Involved scientific jargon is also commonly used to make rational criticism of the presented viewpoint more difficult.
[edit] Examples of use of the term
The term factual relativism is being increasingly used in the context of selecting or creating "facts" to support an argument. Some uses of the term "factual relativisim" in popular culture include:
- A letter to the editor in the New York Times [2]
- A blog on politics and atheism in which factual relativism is described in reference to political discourse [3]
- A science and politics blog [4]
- A story on Daily Kos from 2005 [5]
- See also: moral relativism
[edit] References
- ^ Iris Einheuser, "Varieties of Relativism: Indexical, Propositional and Factual", [1] from the Logos conference on RELATIVIZING UTTERANCE TRUTH, Barcelona, 2005.
