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Title: Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air
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Manufacturer: Baker Books
List Price: $16.99
Our Price: $4.05
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air by Baker Books The best book on this subject | | Deep and yet easy to understand. An indispensible resource for understanding, responding to, and refuting relativism and post-modern thought. This is a MUST READ. | | Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air by Baker Books Absolutism: No Feet at All | As usual in books of this type, the authors caricature their opponents and then attack their nasty, selfish, ignorant victims for the views the authors have ascribed to them. They then ask the reader to join them in their dance of triumph over the dead bodies of enough straw men to light up a good-size fire, the sort of fire to which the medieval Church--not known for its relativism--used to consign heretics.
Instead of dealing with their overheated mischaracterizations, let's consider the authors' arguments for moral absolutism. They point out, quite correctly, that the observation that different cultures and traditions may have different values doesn't mean that no given culture or tradition can have values that are absolute. But they fail to realize that the observation of cultural difference is not meant to refute absolutism, but to raise a fundamental question: If "absolute" values disagree, how does one establish, on an objective and absolute basis, which one, if any, really is absolute?
According to the authors, "objective truths ... are realities in the external world that we discover ... External facts are what they are, regardless of how we feel about them" (p28). In other words, "We don't invent morality; we discover it like we discover multiplication tables" (p29).
How do we discover the "objective" truths of absolute morality? By intuition: "Intuition is a foundational way of knowing that does not depend on following a series of facts or a line of reasoning to a conclusion. Instead, intuitional truth is simply known by the process of introspection and immediate awareness" (p56).
"Intuitional truth doesn't require a defense--a justification of the steps that brought one to this knowledge--because this kind of truth does not result from reasoning by steps to a conclusion. It's a truth that's obvious upon consideration" (p56).
But what about people who disagree with the authors' intuitions about what constitutes moral truth? Clearly, one can't reason with such dissidents, because their intuitions are no more subject to the requirements of reasoned defense than are the authors'. Instead, one dismisses them: "They have something wrong with them" (p59).
That's it. Our intuition is right because we know it is; your intuition is wrong because there's something wrong with you.
People who find comfort in that sort of approach will enjoy this book. | | Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air by Baker Books Acceptable introduction, but repetitive | | If you know next to nothing about relativism read this book; however, for those with a solid grasp on the concepts behind it, you'll find the authors making all the obvious points. They also tend to repeat things over and over, as if they're trying to reinforce all the arguments in your mind. Interesting examples are peppered throughout the work, though sometimes they seem a bit cherry picked. Go for Kreeft's "A Refutation of Moral Relativism: Interviews With an Absolutist" for a more thorough and provocative read. | | Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air by Baker Books Fascinating yet down-to-earth introduction solid moral theory | The authors define moral relativism as the popular theory that there is no objective way of determining what is true or what is right and that morality is based one cultural norms or personal circumstances. This book rises to the occassion criticizing the foundation and legitimacy of moral relativism. The book's strength is that it is an easy read that keeps your attention by appealing to your inner humanity, intuition, common sense and rational.
The book is divided into three sections which is written by two authors. Francis discusses the foundation of moral theory and knowledge. Gregory discusses the political and cultural ramifications of moral relativism. Francis finishes the book by explaining how one can challenge moral relativist messages in their every day lives. Both authors are conservative Christian apologists, but one need not be a Christian or a political conservative to understand and appreciate this book.
Francis does quite an outstanding job exposing how moral relativist advocates often contradict themselves and hide their ulterior agenda by manipulating language and using false rhetoric in the public domain. Francis does a good showing why an objective view of morality that transcends culture and personal preferences is not only necessary but logical for developing a sound moral theory.
The book is not without flaws. I found the book doesn't maintain the quality in writing throughout, which is in part due to the book having two authors. In the second section of the book, Gregory reaches too far in trying to condemn certain policy initiatives without the proper justification. In one instance, Gregory tries to pass off a personal anecdote as 'proof' that supporters of affirmative action and multiculturalism rely on 'might is right' as opposed to intelligent discourse in pushing forth their agenda. While Francis does a good job helping readers recognizing moral relativism in society, Gregory unfortunately is premature in taking for granted that the reader assumes certain liberal political viewpoints (support for affirmative action, gay rights, etc.) are symptoms of moral relativism.
Nonetheless, both authors do a good job in allowing readers to consider the consequences of accepting moral relativism, which often consists of always trying to please everyone, mindlessly following public opinion, and legitimizing any ideology that comes out left field under the guise of tolerance. Both authors explain why true moral leaders need to be strong, confident, and unyielding in their beliefs and why its important to challenge those who advocate moral ambivalence and circular self-justification for one's personal desires and disguising it as morality. I would definitely recommend this book to readers who have been confused or worried our changing moral climate and want to begin a clear and focused path to approaching the topic. | | Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air by Baker Books Weak | The authors do a decent job of explaining relativism in a manner designed for the layman but seldom do they allow more than a few pages pass before they start trotting out their conservative beliefs, ostensibly to stress a point about relativism but seemingly just to air their views on abortion and homosexuality (they're against both). It's a digressive approach, and remarkably amateurish (as is the jacket art, which looks like something that might've been cooked up by a high school sophomore learning to use a Mac circa 1986). If you took the politics and the smug assertions out of this already short book you'd be left with a pamphlet. There's just not a lot of actual information or serious discussion of relativism here.
There's a great need for a book written for a general audience that explains why moral relativism is a poor, even dangerous, approach to the world. This is not that book. | | Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air by Baker Books Product Description | | "An extremely well-researched, intellectual approach to the problem of relativism and its effect on education, public policy, and our everyday lives." --Youthworker |
Delicious Library 2 released
Ars Technica: “DL2 brings some pretty significant new features and a freshly updated UI. At the top of the list is the ability to catalog far more than just media like DVDs and books; users can now keep track of their gadgets, toys, tools, and just about anything else that Amazon carries. Speaking of media, though, DL2 now also catalogs your entire iTunes library, including music, movies, TV shows, and even audiobooks.”
More awesome software from the Pacific Northwest. ;)
Congrats to Wil! And to Lucas and Mike, of course, even though they’re not still Monsters.
Tue, 27 May 2008 04:31:30 GMT
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Third Edition of Cocoa Programming Available
Theocacao: “The first edition is the one I used to learn Cocoa (back when it was one of maybe two books on the topic), and I remember being struck by how well written it was.”
Like Scott, I learned Cocoa from the first edition. When I recommend Mac programming books, this is the one I recommend first.
Wed, 21 May 2008 16:53:32 GMT
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Comic Life Magiq
Macworld: “The original Comic Life took your photos and let you put them into panels that looked like comic books, complete with captions, dialog bubbles and other effects. Comic Life Magiq builds on that functionality with pre-built templates, ‘props,’ balloons and spraycans to help you tell a story using your own pictures.”
Sounds awesome — congrats to our pals at Plasq!
Thu, 08 May 2008 17:05:03 GMT
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New Apple-related books
CARS: “While other book series by other ‘authors’ attempt to ‘inform’ you about ‘features’ and ‘ways’ you can use software or hardware ‘products,’ the Take Control of the Missing Manual for Dummies books will encourage you to let your id run amok through a vast technological landscape formed by people who actually do something for a living instead of living in their parents’ basement like you do.”
Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:22:27 GMT
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New Learn C on the Mac book
MacCentral: Mark’s ‘Learn C on the Mac’ updated for OS X: “SpiderWorks LLC on Wednesday announced the publication of an e-book version of Dave Mark’s seminal ‘Learn C on the Macintosh,’ now updated for Mac OS X.”
We at Ranchero learned C from an earlier version of Learn C on the Macintosh. (In fact, we have a small collection of well-thumbed Dave Mark books.)
Thu, 10 Feb 2005 02:35:15 GMT
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Serialized eBooks via RSS
Russell Beattie: “Many of us are too busy to read classic books out there, instead choosing ‘page turners’ or books that are more applicable to our every day lives (like a some new marketing book). But we do have time to zip through our aggregator daily, right? So by taking a 500 page novel and distributing it, a few pages at a time, via RSS, we could read a new book in a month or so without even trying.”
Sat, 15 Jan 2005 01:36:01 GMT
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‘Building Cocoa Applications’ book released
MacCentral reports on O’Reilly’s new book ‘Building Cocoa Applications’ by Michael Mahoney and Simson Garfinkel. I haven’t read the entire book yet, but so far it appears to be more comprehensive than Aaron Hillegass’s book (a book I like very much). How the two books compare otherwise I can’t say yet.
Tue, 04 Jun 2002 16:00:56 GMT
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From Woeful to Wow! - 6 Steps to a Stunning Site
WebmasterBase: “Absolutely never let a user (or users) have the power to defame your site. Forms of this include guest books with undeletable entries, and other similar not-so-bright ideas. One of my favorites is the ‘Vote Me off the Net’ polls, where users may rate a site from, say, 1-5.”
Sat, 13 Apr 2002 18:16:43 GMT
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