How did relativism and skepticism become so pervasive?

westerwren

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Which particular philosophers or movements are originally responsible for the pervasive relativism and skepticism in Western society? How did people become so afraid of holding convictions and being certain?

In my philosophy classes, doubt and proving the unsoundness of arguments and theories seems MUCH more common than actually affirming them. Books, TV shows and movies such as "The Matrix" draw from Descartes' "Evil Deceiver" hypothesis to make people wonder if the external world is just a dream, virtual reality, or the deception of a demon. People doubt that morality and ethics have any more basis than mere convention, opinion and rules. Phrases such as "There's no black or white," "everything is relative," "That's just your opinion," and "don't be so dogmatic," abound as unquestioned platitudes. Worst of all, existentialist and nihilistic "literature" (which high schools force fed me and other students) such as "Slaughterhouse Five," "Grendel," "The Catcher in the Rye," "Fight Club," and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" teach youths to think that if there is an external world, it's really just an inexplicable, irrational horror in which they have no hope of finding happiness or meaning, and, in any case, being happy is a sign of cowardly evasion from the cold, hard truth.

All of this seems to habituate people to doubt everything and believe nothing. I think this is a shame, because the few things I am absolutely certain about give me a great sense of security and a direction, and I'm much happier as an absolutist than as the relativist/solipsist I used to be. I feel like the only thing that saves many people is that when matters are urgent, they often behave as if there are absolutes (not many people behave like relativists or solipsists when someone asks them to put their hand on a hot stove or mouth off to their boss). Still, I think relativism saps people of much potential happiness.

Anyhow, to return to my question, which philosophers or movements are responsible for this pervasive relativism and skepticism? How did people become so afraid of having convictions and certainty?
 

FreezBee

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westerwren said:
Anyhow, to return to my question, which philosophers or movements are responsible for this pervasive relativism and skepticism? How did people become so afraid of having convictions and certainty?

People are always responsible for their own believes :)

Relativism is simply to accept that you might be wrong and the other might be right. Or at least not more wrong than you.

Read

Matthew 7 said:
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

cheers

- FreezBee
 
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T

The Seeker

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If I can get all Marx-y on y'all for a moment...;)

Those who control society control the media, education, their ideological beliefs become dominant within society. Post-modernism and other irrationalist, secular philosophies fulfill a particular material need of the bosses (maintaining the status quo), they promote them, hence they become more prevalent.
 
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DailyBlessings

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Spinrad said:
I think you are taking the question on from the wrong angle. The question, it appears tro me, is why these ideas are not the most accurate in your opinion? Because to me the relativism of everything constructed by humans is pretty obvious.
The question is perfectly valid. Philosophies are almost always "pretty obvious" to those who hold them. But most ideas are not temporally universal, and looking into how we came to believe what we do can be very illuminating.
 
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Spinrad

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DailyBlessings said:
The question is perfectly valid. Philosophies are almost always "pretty obvious" to those who hold them. But most ideas are not temporally universal, and looking into how we came to believe what we do can be very illuminating.

Then I think the reason relativism is the norm is because when any moral question is really looked into the answer is always "it depends". I have yet to run across a question regardling morality that this is not the case. Can you give me one?
 
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DailyBlessings

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Spinrad said:
Then I think the reason relativism is the norm is because when any moral question is really looked into the answer is always "it depends". I have yet to run across a question regardling morality that this is not the case. Can you give me one?
The actual question in the OP was what the history of relativism was, not necessarily whether it was correct. Actually, the fact that you are claiming moral relativism to be absolutely true is a bit ironic if you think about it.
 
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Spinrad

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DailyBlessings said:
The actual question in the OP was what the history of relativism was, not necessarily whether it was correct. Actually, the fact that you are claiming moral relativism to be absolutely true is a bit ironic if you think about it.

As long as you don't think too deeply, yes it is. Actually, what I claimed was that I can't think of a question regarding morality that connot be answered with "it depends", then I asked you give me one. You see, one is mere definition of terminology, the other is an actual application of the mechanism the term is meant to decribe.

The Implication I am making is that relativism has become the norm because it works best most often. Why would it NOT become the norm?
 
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FordPrefect

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I don't think it is a matter of people being afraid of certainty or conviction. I think some smart people such as Kierkigard (sp), Sartre, Nieztche, and others realized that without an absolute frame of reference there were no absolutes and since the only frame of reference that can be described as necessary is mine to me, Sartre's to him and your's to you we have a hard time describing an absolute frame of reference.

Once that absolute frame of reference is gone you have the choice to make one up (or accept one handed to you), or try to live without it. It's like waking up and finding yourself in a freefall to earth without a parachute, do you close your eyes or start doing somersaults? Either way it doesn't matter, you will be a splatter on the ground shortly, but what works for you?
 
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Verv

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The reason why the philosophies stated above are so pervasive is the fact that they are the easiest in the world to defend.

It is impossible to actually prove concepts and ideas because there is no science that deals with abstract concepts.

Furthermore, every abstract idea has arguments for and against it, and to construct strong arguments and have faith in concrete ideas requires a lot of mental energy, but to simply believe in next-to-nothing (moral relativism) makes the whole concept of philosophy.

I ignore them. Most of the time, these people are incapable of formulating complex ideas, but only can regurgitate arguments and examples against your own -- arguments that require no basis other than "You're wrong, and nothing matters."
 
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