relativism
noun
rel·a·tiv·ism ˈre-lə-ti-ˌvi-zəm 
1
a
: a theory that knowledge is relative to the limited nature of the mind and the conditions of knowing
b
: a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them
2
: relativity
relativist
ˈre-lə-tə-vist
noun 
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The idea that objectivity might be poisonous seems to open the way to a kind of brain-melting relativism, the end of the possibility of knowledge itself. 
Hari Kunzru, Harper’s Magazine , 22 June 2022 Claremont students revered America’s founding, and saw moral relativism and an increasingly powerful government bureaucracy as existential threats. Melanie Masonstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 26 June 2022 If divine truth is single and universal, then multiplicity and relativism are the signatures of evil. Hari Kunzru, Harper’s Magazine , 22 June 2022 Postmodernism, however, has moved us further, from moral to cognitive relativism, in which even factual observation is regarded as subjective. Francis Fukuyama, Harper’s Magazine , 27 Apr. 2022 For many years now, societies have been living with moral relativism, which asserts the essential subjectivity of all value systems. Francis Fukuyama, Harper’s Magazine , 27 Apr. 2022 Del Noce indicts the sweeping changes of secularism, eroticism, and relativism as the inevitable outcomes of Marx’s dialectical victory over religious and liberal foes. Richard M. Reinsch Ii, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022 And the fallout from sociologism, i.e., relativism, remains evident across Western nations, as comprehensive claims about the true and the good are reduced to race, class, and gender. Richard M. Reinsch Ii, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022 Yet his pitch has hardened into litany: technological determinism, political pessimism, cultural relativism, and so on. Frank Guan, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2022 See More
Hari Kunzru, Harper’s Magazine , 22 June 2022 Claremont students revered America’s founding, and saw moral relativism and an increasingly powerful government bureaucracy as existential threats. Melanie Masonstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 26 June 2022 If divine truth is single and universal, then multiplicity and relativism are the signatures of evil. Hari Kunzru, Harper’s Magazine , 22 June 2022 Postmodernism, however, has moved us further, from moral to cognitive relativism, in which even factual observation is regarded as subjective. Francis Fukuyama, Harper’s Magazine , 27 Apr. 2022 For many years now, societies have been living with moral relativism, which asserts the essential subjectivity of all value systems. Francis Fukuyama, Harper’s Magazine , 27 Apr. 2022 Del Noce indicts the sweeping changes of secularism, eroticism, and relativism as the inevitable outcomes of Marx’s dialectical victory over religious and liberal foes. Richard M. Reinsch Ii, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022 And the fallout from sociologism, i.e., relativism, remains evident across Western nations, as comprehensive claims about the true and the good are reduced to race, class, and gender. Richard M. Reinsch Ii, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022 Yet his pitch has hardened into litany: technological determinism, political pessimism, cultural relativism, and so on. Frank Guan, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1865, in the meaning defined at sense 1a