Relativism

Modern democracies increasingly confuse civic or political equality with a radical relativism that calls into question legitimate principles of hierarchy and the very idea of reasonable value judgments. This confusion reflects a “corruption,” in Montesquieu’s sense, of democracy rooted in a refusal to recognize distinctions that are integral to both human nature and social life. A moderate form of cultural relativism is a genuine intellectual achievement that helps combat ethnocentrism and allows one to better appreciate the full range of human experience. But criteria of meaning and truth are by no means entirely dependent upon cultural context. Our contemporary awareness of the “relativity” of cultures and historical experiences must be complemented by a robust appreciation of the universality of Reason and citizenship.

Dominique SchnapperEmail:

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Dominique Schnapper   has been a member of the Constitutional Council of France since 2001. She is also Professor at the école des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. She has been named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and Officer of the Order des Arts et des Lettres. This essay is translated from the 30th anniversary issue of the French journal, Commentaire, n. 121/Spring 2008, pp. 126–130, by Paul Seaton and Daniel J. Mahoney.