Debates over truth’s meaning and importance, or inconsequentiality, flourish as much today, if not more, as any other period of history. Philosophers, scholars, kings, prophets, and religious founders all, at one time or another, pondered and declared what they believed should be truth’s definition. Today, three major schools of thought present themselves in the consciousness of society. Some hold to individual relativism, a belief in the individual’s power to make and change, if so desired, what is true for them. Many proponents of societal relativism find their definition of truth to reside in what every culture defines as true and ethical in its own era and area of influence. Still remains the absolutist, one who believes in the absolute
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Still, there are those who would deny the existence of absolute truth and have a belief in societal relativism, also known as cultural relativism. In societal relativism, truth depends on what a culture, society, or majority say. If the majority say something is right or true, then that is what is right for individuals that are a part of that culture (Apologetics 7.2.2). It does not, however, apply to anyone in different societies or time periods. Of course, this also has its many flaws in real world applications. This view assumes that all societies are equal, and it assumes that their truth claims are equally valid. However, what is now condemned in modern societies, such as slavery, may have once been lauded in past societies. In fact, some people who committed crimes against the culture of a certain time period were criminals under that state’s law, but society lauds them as heroes today (Apologetics 7.2.2). When reviewing past dealings with these moral issues, modern people use their current truth perspective to judge a previous society, but according to societal relativism, past societies are never in the wrong based on their version of truth. Cultural relativism, just as individual relativism, is self-refuting by
Still, there are those who would deny the existence of absolute truth and have a belief in societal relativism, also known as cultural relativism. In societal relativism, truth depends on what a culture, society, or majority say. If the majority say something is right or true, then that is what is right for individuals that are a part of that culture (Apologetics 7.2.2). It does not, however, apply to anyone in different societies or time periods. Of course, this also has its many flaws in real world applications. This view assumes that all societies are equal, and it assumes that their truth claims are equally valid. However, what is now condemned in modern societies, such as slavery, may have once been lauded in past societies. In fact, some people who committed crimes against the culture of a certain time period were criminals under that state’s law, but society lauds them as heroes today (Apologetics 7.2.2). When reviewing past dealings with these moral issues, modern people use their current truth perspective to judge a previous society, but according to societal relativism, past societies are never in the wrong based on their version of truth. Cultural relativism, just as individual relativism, is self-refuting by