Have you ever tried to persuade someone that
your belief was true and that person responds,
“Well, there is no truth” or “It might
be true for you, but not for me”?
It’s a frustrating experience.
This way of thinking, called relativism, can
impede any sort of rational dialogue.
The view that truth—that is, what is real—is
relative to the individual is what some scholars
call “I Say” relativism.
As U.S. Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy
wrote in the 1992 landmark case Planned Parenthood
v. Casey, “At the heart of liberty is the
right to define one’s own concept of existence,
of meaning, of the universe, and of the
mystery of human life.”
In other words, in “I Say” relativism
the individual determines what is real rather
than discovers what is real.
In order to engage in any sensible discussion
about truth, we must first overcome the obstacle
of relativism.
So, what can we say in response?
First, we can ask, “Is it absolutely true
that there is no absolute truth?”
If a relativist responds “yes”, then the statement
itself is an absolute truth.
But this is a contradiction—it’s absolutely
true that there is no absolute truth.
Plain absurdity!
Now, suppose a relativist answers our question, “No!
The statement, ‘there is no absolute truth’
is only relatively true—it’s true relative
to my system of beliefs.”
This is problematic as well.
Using the verb “is” implies an assertion
about the objective order of things—
conformity to reality.
But this is like saying, “It’s absolutely
true that there is no absolute truth,” which
as we already saw is a contradiction.
Furthermore, a relativist’s claim that the
statement, ‘there is no absolute truth,’
is true relative to his system of beliefs
makes the claim trivial.
If a relativist simply means by this, “I
believe this but others don’t,” well then it
doesn't tell us anything we didn’t already know.
If a relativist means, “This is just my
opinion, take it or leave it,” then there’s
no need to pay any attention to it.
To put it frankly if a relativist is not going
to make a claim about reality, then who cares?
Why should we be concerned with such trivial matters?
A second way we can respond to “I Say”
relativism is to show how the logic leads to absurdities.
For example, in a recent video, “College
Kids Say the Darndest Things,” released
by the Family Policy Institute of Washington,
Joseph Backholm, the executive director, interviewed
eight students from the University of Washington
about so-called gender identity.
Backholm, a white, 5' 9" male, asked the students
what they would say if he told them he were a female.
Every student was quick to say it would be okay.
Backholm then asks the students a series of
questions that lead to his identifying as
a 6’5” Chinese woman.
Although a few of the students were a bit
hesitant to affirm Backholm’s assertion
that he is 6' 5" and Chinese they concluded
it would be within his right to identify as he pleases.
Now that’s either going to make you laugh or cry.
Perhaps the students would have seen the absurdity
of the relativistic logic if Backholm asked
them, “What if I say I am a cat?”
Now lest you think such claims are outside the
realm of possibility, check out the story
of 20-year-old Nano from Oslo, Norway, a young
woman who claims she is a cat
trapped in a human body.
As she explains in an interview with a Norwegian
reporter, she was “born in the wrong species.”
The absurdities that follow from
“I Say” relativism continue.
Consider Chloe Jennings-White, a Ph.D. with
degrees from Cambridge and Stanford universities,
who identifies as a paraplegic.
She rides around in a wheel chair with leg
braces intending to one day have her sciatic
nerve severed to paralyze her legs.
Should we accept and celebrate Chloe’s desire
to be a paraplegic?
What about Nano’s claim that she’s a cat?
If we follow the logic that has led our culture
to accept and celebrate peoples’ desire
to be a member of the opposite sex, well then we
must accept and celebrate peoples’ desires
to be paraplegic or a different animal.
No matter how a relativist slices the pie,
one ends up with a contradiction, triviality,
and absurdities making
relativism an unreasonable worldview.
By embracing relativism our culture has
reached the point of insanity.
There can be no false perception of reality
because there is no reality to perceive—only
a reality to create.
Can our society function with such a worldview?
It’s doubtful.
For Catholic Answers, I’m Karlo Broussard.
Thanks for watching.