Study Guide – Test #1

What are the main features of the traditional concepts of objectivity and relativism, and how can each of these concepts be made more moderate? What are the comparative advantages and disadvantages of objectivity and relativism?

Rescher Ch. 1 – How does Rescher attempt to preserve the notion of objectivity by using the notion of rational consensus? How does rational consensus work, and who is included in the category of rational people? How does it allow one to act rationally within different contexts.

Popper – Explain how Popper’s notion of fallibilism moderates the traditional notion of objectivity.

Rescher Ch. 2 – What are each of these groups’ criticisms of objectivity, and how does Rescher respond to them? A. Anthropology; B. Historicism, sociology of knowledge, social activism, personalism; C. Feminism and Marxism.

Schweder – What are the various ways that anthropologists deal with difference or diversity? What are the two forms of relativism that Schweder discusses? Which one is more moderate, and why?

Kuhn – How does Kuhn criticize the rigid distinction between theories and facts? Explain the following concepts: theoryladenness, paradigm, conceptual scheme, paradigm shifts. What is the difference between normal science and scientific revolutions?

Kitcher – Summarize Kitcher’s description of scientific consensus practices. How does this concept help Kitcher to defend scientific objectivity? What are the main features of conceptual and explanatory progress, and how are these concepts a response to Kitcher’s account of paradigm shifts?