The disease of Relativism

It has become increasingly difficult to hold decent constructive discussion with people. The reasons for this are many, but one particular reason irks me more than the others. Many people, in the middle of a discussion, will suddenly cut it short by saying, “Well it’s my point of view, and all points of view are correct. There is no right and wrong.” Usually, this is an excuse to evade the responsibility of holding a concrete view, for fear of being attacked. It’s also because they don’t want to take the effort of thinking things out for themselves to the last. For such people, this is an admirable defense, which I will now proceed to break down.

“It’s all relative” they say. If this were true, then there would be no way to prove a person wrong. “There’s no such thing as wrong!” they say. They point to a psychotic person with hallucinations and say that he is living in his own world, and who are we to say his world is wrong? The fact is that reality is real and exists. It can kill you. You cannot go against what is real, or you will face the consequences. If a psychotic person claims not to see a truck, I can put him in the middle of a road, and let him get run over. The truck that he never saw, takes his life. He cannot be correct, AND dead, simply because he would be alive if he was correct, and he cannot be alive if he is dead.

So the next time you hear someone say, it’s all relative, you know better. It’s highly unlikely that you would be able to conduct an experiment of the type I suggested above, but you know the principle now.

This issue needs to be explained a little further. Sometimes, a correct analysis can be made only after possession of all the facts. After possessing the facts, one must be able to have faith in one’s own thought processes. The problem is, that under the garb of sounding “Scientific”, even the most unscientific issues can be propounded to a gullible public. These issues ranges from evolution, to god, to a sixth sense, and all kinds of other pseudo scientific material. They use terms like “quantum mechanics”, and talk about Einstein’s relativity to say that there is no ultimate reality. These people have not the slightest idea of what they’re talking about. And most people are so afraid of scientific jargon, that they listen to these views sagaciously expounded and believe. Such discourses would not fool a real scientist, or even a person who listens carefully and asks questions, for a moment.

The general public though, having sensed that if tried hard enough, almost anything can be made to sound true if spoken “Scientifically” using big words, has lost faith in anything being absolutely true. They have lost faith in their own thought processes, and ridicule those who claim to have a correct opinion, labeling all points of view as “relative”.

Such people do not DARE TO KNOW. The great conquenst of the period of scientific enlightenment, namely the faith in man as a powerful being who has the power to know, means nothing to them. They don’t have faith in their power to observer, analyse, and come out with an objectively valid opinion, that they can defend in public for being afraid of being made to look like a fool.

Let me take an example from the author Erich Fromm. Let us say there are two men, both of whom behave courageously in battle. What is the motive? One point of view, is that he loves his country, and is willing to sacrifice his life to serve it. Another point of view is that he is trying to get a promotion by doing brave deeds.

The relativists will say only he knows, and that none of us can reach the truth about either of them. They will treat all opinions with the same “We can’t pass judgement”. However, as I mentioned above, one CAN tell by observing closely. The person who is brave because he loves his country, will be brave even when he thinks no one is watching. The person who desires to get a promotion, will not be brave if he thinks his actions will not come to the notice of his seniors. By looking carefully, we have correctly found out whose motive is what. As before, correct observation is the key. If we say that a mother does not really love her child, but is satisfying her needs to dominate someone, we WILL be able to observe certain aspects in the mother’s behavior, or dreams that will make such a conclusion inescapable. Even if she vehemently denies this (Which she most probably will), we can stand up and tell her the truth confidently, because we have faith in our own analytical and observational powers. The relativist however will say “Who are you to pass judgement on her?”. The truth is, that in observing facts, I AM passing judgement. It’s probably true that the mother is being compulsively driven due to circumstances beyond her knowledge and control, and that will make it easier for us to forgive her. But that does NOT mean we cannot make a judgement.

If I see a deformed plant which has been corrupted by a disease, I cannot blame the plant, but the fact is that it is deformed. It’s not the plant’s fault, but that doesn’t make the plant normal and healthy. Similarly, I can make an objective judgement regarding the health of a human being. I’m not blaming the person, but the fact is that there are objectively valid methods of detecting whether or not a person is healthy. Happiness is NOT subjective. A person may think he is happy, and convince himself of the fact. However, happiness is not a state of mind alone, but a state of being in which the whole personality and body of the person participates. Such a person’s true state of being will be revealed in his dreams, in the state of his heart, in the manner of his speech, health, expressions of his face, and his reactions to various things and people.

We CAN know the truth. And the truth is objective. It may not be ABSOLUTE. But it is objective. And we can find it out.