relativism

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English relative

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der.

English -ism

English relativism

From relative + -ism.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪ.vɪz.əm/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪ.vɪz.əm/, [ˈɹɛl.ə.ɾɪ.vɪz.əm]

Noun

relativism (countable and uncountable, plural relativisms)

1. (uncountable, philosophy) The theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them.
   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 442:

     We thus reach a position of extreme relativism: different 'truths' may be useful in different historical situations, and it is quite possible that any truth is valid only for a particular epoch or social class.

2. (countable, philosophy) A specific such theory, advocated by a particular philosopher or school of thought.
   • 2008, Paul Boghossian, “Replies to Wright, MacFarlane and Sosa”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 141, number 3, page 413:

     Following Gilbert Harman’s lead, my own formulation of relativism about the normative domain was based on the classic examples of thoroughgoing relativisms drawn from physics.

Coordinate terms

• subjectivism

Derived terms

• antirelativism
• cognitive relativism
• ethnorelativism
• factual relativism
• hyperrelativism
• moral relativism

Translations

theory that truth and moral values are relative

• Afrikaans: relativisme m
• Arabic: نِسْبَوِيَّة f (nisbawiyya)
• Armenian: ռելյատիվիզմ (hy) (ṙelyativizm)
• Bashkir: релятивизм (relyatiwizm)
• Catalan: relativisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 相對主義 / 相对主义 (zh) (xiāngduìzhǔyì)

• Czech: relativismus m
• Finnish: relativismi (fi), suhteellisuusajattelu (fi)
• French: relativisme (fr) m
• Galician: relativismo m
• German: Relativismus m
• Irish: coibhneasacht f
• Italian: relativismo (it) m
• Japanese: 相対主義 (そうたいしゅぎ, sōtaishugi)
• Kazakh: релятивизм (relyätıyviyzm)
• Kyrgyz: релятивизм (relyativizm)
• Malay: relativisme (ms), nisbiah
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: relativisme m

• Polish: relatywizm m
• Portuguese: relativismo (pt) m
• Romanian: relativism (ro)
• Russian: релятиви́зм (ru) m (reljativízm)
• Serbo-Croatian: relativizam (sh) m, релативизам m
• Spanish: relativismo (es) m

See also

• alternativism
• pragmatism

References

• “relativism”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• relativism in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “relativism”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French relativisme.

Noun

relativism n (uncountable)

1. relativism

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	relativism	relativismul
genitive-dative	relativism	relativismului
vocative	relativismule