Rationality,Relativism, and Religion: A Reinterpretation of Peter Winch |
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Authors: | Kevin Schilbrack |
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Institution: | (1) Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, USA |
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Abstract: | Many point to Peter Winch’s discussion of rationality, relativism, and religion as a paradigmatic example of cultural relativism.
In this paper, I argue that Winch’s relationship to relativism is widely misinterpreted in that, despite his pluralistic understanding
of rationality, Winch does allow for universal features of culture in virtue of which cross-cultural understanding and even
critique is possible. Nevertheless, I also argue that given the kind of cultural universals that Winch produces, he fails
to avoid relativism. This is because in order to provide the standards without which relativism ensues, one requires a certain
kind of criteria of rationality, namely, what I here call substantive universals, a kind of criteria which Winch rejects. |
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