Perspectives on Relativity

About the authors

Roy Hernández was born in Carúpano, Venezuela, on September 1^st, 1995. He went to elementary school and high school in a little town named El Pilar, and then in 2012, he moved to Maturín, where he is currently studying to become an English teacher at UPEL.

Jean Guerra was born in Cariaco, Venezuela, on July 12^th, 1995. He went to elementary school and high school in this little town, and then in 2012, he moved to Maturín, where he is currently studying to become an English teacher at UPEL.

Introduction

The purpose of this e-book is to focus on the word “relativity” from different perspectives. We all have probably thought that everything is relative, so this term offers broad opportunities to study, and discuss. Many are the fields that have adopted this concept, from science to philosophy, and more, to define or establish ideas that marked history.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the noun relativity is “the state of being judged in comparison with other things and not by itself,” while the Oxford Dictionary defines it as “the absence of standards of absolute and universal application.” Now we will study a bit deeper the term from the perspectives mentioned above.

Relativism

It is the philosophical point of view that everything is relative. There is no universal or standard truth, belief system, or moral code, since everything is equally valid depending on everyone’s position. In this regard, all aspects are related to the context, each person can have his own established norms, individually or as part of a specific society. Due to its nature, relativism has influenced many areas such as ethics, religion, politics, science, etc.

Cultural Relativism

Cultures around the world are different from one another, which is the result of their own historical, geographic, social, and political aspects through years. These differences go from something as simple as what to have for breakfast, to religious beliefs. In this regard, cultural relativism is centered on the acceptance of these variations in societies. All beliefs, customs, values, and traditions should be respected and not judged from our own personal or cultural perspective. This idea has strongly influenced social sciences such as anthropology and sociology, where the study of civilizations should remain objective. There are many supporters of cultural relativism, because it fights bias and ethnocentrism, however there are also arguments about how far understanding a culture should go when talking about practices such as body mutilation, whaling, polygamy, etc.

Moral Relativism

It is the philosophical concept that there is no a universal moral standard, so there is no a definite notion of what is right or wrong. Similarly to cultural relativism, moral relativism is concerned about how moral codes differ from one culture to another, and that they should be accepted and tolerated. Also, it indicates that there should not be preference of a culture’s values over others, since people tend to believe their own moral ideas are the correct ones. However, ethics is a topic hard to discuss, and there are disagreements about what should be accepted and what should not, especially regarding human rights.

Theory of Relativity

Albert Einstein’s relativity is divided into two theories: Special relativity (1905) also known as the space-time theory. This concept explains all the psychical interactions and phenomena, except gravity. It holds that the laws of physics are the same everywhere. Also, that there is no an absolute point of reference and follows the idea that whenever we measure the velocity of an object, the moment in which something is happening or how time is experienced it will be always in relation with something else. General relativity (1915), on the other hand, describes the law of gravitation and its association to other forces of nature. Einstein’s theories have been confirmed to be accurate over the years and are being used to predict all types of phenomena, from the existence of black holes to how celestial bodies behave.

Linguistic Relativity

Linguistic relativity, also known as Worfianism or Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, embrace the idea that the languages we know give form to our cognition, influence the way we think and how we perceive the world. Also, it states that different languages lead us to different forms of thinking. The concept was settled by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Worf in the 1930’s. Over the years, the theory has been criticized and even aimed to be false holding the idea that our perception of the world and cognition are unlimited and not bounded by the languages we know.

Conclusion

As can be seen, the essence of “relativity” goes through diverse and important areas of knowledge. It has inspired multiple sets of ideas, and has expanded humans’ ways of thinking. Whether these ideas have been rejected, or criticized, they have opened a wide range of debate and reflection; after all, it is within humankind to doubt and analyze everything we find. Even though all of this has been a subject of discussion for intellectuals, it does not take to know much about philosophy to ask what truth is, what right and wrong could be, and more so if what we perceive is true and right. According to relativism, it may be, but also what others think might.