Gorgias Gorgias the Nihilist, an ancient Greek philosopher, was said to have argued the following four points: Nothing exists; Even if something exists, nothing can be known about it; and Even if something can be known about it, knowledge about it can’t be communicated to others. Even if it can be communicated, it cannot be… Continue reading Establishing Absolute, Knowable Truth, in Three Easy Steps
Tag: relativism
Air-Conditioned Atheism, the U.S. Bishops, and the HHS Mandate
Archbishop Chaput’s talk at the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life this year is a must-read for anyone concerned with abortion, or with religious freedom. In it, he speaks rather movingly about children with Down Syndrome, and about the increased risk they face of being aborted (a theme I hit on here). But one of the… Continue reading Air-Conditioned Atheism, the U.S. Bishops, and the HHS Mandate
On the Swiss Minaret Ban
If you’re not following your Swiss religious news (I’m sure most of you are, of course), it falls to me to report to you that the Swiss, in a referendum upset, surprised virtually everyone by passing overwhelmingly (with 57.6% of the vote, and the support of 22 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons) a ban on the… Continue reading On the Swiss Minaret Ban
The Trouble With Relativism
I. What Relativism IsMoral relativism is an outgrowth of a broader family of relativistic ideas. A number of philosophers, particularly in the 20th century, argued that all of reality was perspectival: that things appeared as they do to us because of our culture, our language, and the various other components which constitute our viewpoint. In… Continue reading The Trouble With Relativism