Evidence · Case 05 · Relativism
The self-referential problem
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
A claim that applies to all statements must apply to itself. No statement is objectively true is a statement, so it falls under its own rule and defeats itself. Philosophers call this self-referential incoherence, and it is why global relativism has few serious defenders even among those sympathetic to it.
Sources
Overview of relativist positions and the self-refutation objection.
Objections & responses
- This is a cheap trick. Careful relativists mean that truth is framework-dependent, not that anything goes. Isn’t the self-refutation charge a straw man?
It is fair to take the careful version. Someone can hold that many claims are framework-dependent without saying every claim is, and that position is not self-refuting. But it is also not relativism in the strong sense people reach for when they say all religions are equally true or morality is just opinion. Pressed, the careful relativist keeps some claims objective, which concedes the point. The question then is which claims are objective and why, and that is the conversation worth having.