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From: Dan Harrison <dharriso@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 23:42:16 -0400
Jason
In response to your query about the various (political/ethical/aesthetic)
implications of relativism, I would suggest to you that we need to invoke at
least two conceptions, Marx's "poetry of the future" and Nietzsche's "will
to power"; i.e. to be able to envision what we want our futures to look like
(for we make them every day) and also, the will, the desire, to do just
that. Also, I don't see exactly why anomie is seen as the only response to
relatavism. Why is it that cultural relatavism is deemed acceptable, but
epistemological relativism is not?
For a deeper treatment of these issues, you really should check out
Hazelrigg's three volumes. In the third one, -Cultures of Nature-, you'll
become convinced that Nature, nature all the way down; lightening,
volcanoes, Uranus, horses, etc. are all, at base, human productions; i.e.
Nature is a social production.
Dan Harrison
FSU Sociology
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2011