Relativism

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani grants that relativism is useful against dogmatism. Yet since Protagoras's scepticism, he sees it above all as a denial of any universal that shuts each person inside their own bubble. In his view, liberalism encourages this attitude1. He sums it up with the formula "what holds for us does not hold among the Bantu": cultural traditions should supposedly be respected without being judged2. Groups are then isolated like species3. He also gives it a political reading. Relativism presents itself as progress in thought, but it serves capital, because it keeps identity quarrels going rather than the union of proletarians4. In petty-bourgeois ideology, it alternates with neopositivism, as political parties alternate, and both have reason as their common enemy5. To move beyond it, he proposes bringing in the temporal dimension: what is taken for a difference in space is in fact a difference in time6.

1. 1L'Histoire est elle une matière ?9 Mar 2017 · 59:38
2. 2Monde d'avant, Monde d'après - 2e partie16 Jan 2021 · 46:01
3. 3Clouscard par vous-même - Réponse à vos questions28 Feb 2024 · 41:47
4. 4Dominique Pagani ▷II Michel Foucault2 May 2019 · 26:07
5. 5Les Veaux et les choses (3) : La dictature du bobotariat6 Oct 2020 · 12:12
6. 6Clouscard par vous-même - Réponse à vos questions28 Feb 2024 · 1:18:26

Summary produced automatically from 6 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.