TY - BOOK AU - Rovane,Carol TI - The Metaphysics and Ethics of Relativism SN - 9780674725713 U1 - 149 PY - 2013///] CY - Cambridge, MA : PB - Harvard University Press, KW - Ethics KW - Relativity KW - PHILOSOPHY / Metaphysics KW - bisacsh N1 - Frontmatter --; Contents --; Introduction --; PART ONE How to Formulate the Doctrine of Relativism --; 1 The Prevailing Consensus View: Disagreement, Relative Truth, and Antirealism --; 2 Relativism as Multimundialism --; PART TWO Evaluating the Doctrine of Relativism --; 3 Relativism concerning Natural Facts --; 4 Relativism concerning Moral Values --; References --; Acknowledgments --; Index; restricted access; Issued also in print N2 - Relativism is a contested doctrine among philosophers, some of whom regard it as neither true nor false but simply incoherent. As Carol Rovane demonstrates in this tour-de-force, the way to defend relativism is not by establishing its truth but by clarifying its content. The Metaphysics and the Ethics of Relativism elaborates a doctrine of relativism that has a consistent logical, metaphysical, and practical significance. Relativism is worth debating, Rovane contends, because it bears directly on the moral choices we make in our lives. Rovane maintains that the most compelling conception of relativism is the "alternative intuition." Alternatives are truths that cannot be embraced together because they are not universal. Something other than logical contradiction excludes them. When this is so, logical relations no longer hold among all truth-value-bearers. Some truths will be irreconcilable between individuals even though they are valid in themselves. The practical consequence is that some forms of interpersonal engagement are confined within definite boundaries, and one has no choice but to view what lies beyond those boundaries with "epistemic indifference." In a very real sense, some people inhabit different worlds--true in themselves, but closed off to belief from those who hold irreducibly incompatible truths UR - https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674726062 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780674726062 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/cover/covers/9780674726062.jpg ER -