Usos y abusos del relativismo

Abstract

In the second half of the last century relativism became widespread in philosophy and history of science, epistemology, social sciences and ethics. We explore here the steps in the deepening of this tendency and the reactions it brought about. We are interested in clarifying the relations and differences between moderate and radical relativism. In order to understand the reaction against relativism it is important to analyze the differences between relativism and skepticism, on the one hand, and between naturalism, positivism and realism, on the other hand.