10/2 Alasdair MacIntyre, “Relativism, Power, and Philosophy”; Recommended: Rescher Ch. 5

Theme: Cognitive relativism and cultural difference

1. How does MacIntyre use the example of the bilingual person who has to choose between two cultures to argue for relativism? What aspects of a culture does he think are untranslatable? How does his distinction between translation and understanding help to explain how a bilingual person could be a part of two cultures that are partially incommensurable?

2. According to MacIntyre, modern European languages also support relativism, though for a different reason. What is the reason for this?

3. How does MacIntyre propose to transcend relativism, and what role does the influence of an alien tradition play in this?