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Relativising Relativism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Ian Hodder
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Extract

I very much welcome both the medium and the message of the Lampeter seminar article. Fear of the ‘unscientific’ unknown has long prevented an adequate discussion of relativism in archaeology. Anxiety about the relativist abyss in which ‘all pasts are equal’ has thwarted efforts to evaluate alternatives to ‘objective science’. The dialogical style of the article opens up the debate on relativism without imposing rigid and narrow perspectives. The message itself is greatly enhanced by the helpful distinctions between ontological, epistemic and moral relativism.

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Discussion
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Archaeological Dialogues , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , December 1997, pp. 192 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1997

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