Assessment Relativism and the Truth-Predicate

The purpose of this paper is to argue that assessment relativism entails the assessment-sensitivity of the sentential truth-predicate, but not of the propositional truth-predicate. The central idea of assessment relativism is that a single token claim evaluated within a single world can have different truth-values when considered in different contexts of assessment. John MacFarlane in Assessment Sensitivity: Relative Truth and its Applications (2014) and also Max Kölbel in the article ‘Global relativism and self-refutation’ (2011) have argued that this position leads to relativism about the propositional truth-predicate. I argue that this is not the case—it entails relativism only about the sentential truth-predicate.

Karl Popper 120th anniversary; Some reflections on the decision-making process in medicine

Rereading Popper’s “The Logic of scientific discovery”, at his 120th anniversary, brings some thoughts regarding the diagnostic process and decision making in medicine from the viewpoint of the classical scientific method. In recent years physicians are increasingly becoming technical experts who base their decision-making on uniform criteria, guidelines and classifications but unfortunately have moved away from understanding the basic concepts in the philosophy of science. This raises an ethically and philosophically important issue; what does a medical diagnosis mean? Is this an absolute or a relative truth? The implications of this question are enormous in terms of prognosis and treatment. Both patients and physicians should be educated about the nature of the diagnostic process.

Attic Philosophy Versus Stoicism: The Problem of the Boundaries of a Citizen's Moral Autonomy (to the Question of Relevance of Classical Theory of Ethics)

Topical at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century the problem of the degree of moral independence - and therefore responsibility! - of an individual from society/state in the article is considered "through the prism" of the ancient heritage. More precisely, through two prisms: classical Athenian philosophy and the teachings of the Stoics; The duality generated by this, the conflict of assessments of the situation is perceived by us positively, and moreover, it is used as an argument in favor of the need for students (including the technical university) to study the classical ethical heritage. After all, any of the teachings included in the latter contains an element of "relative truth", the assimilation of which will help to approach the "absolute truth" in deciding the question of the boundaries of our own moral autonomy.

LOGIC OF RELATIVITY

The problem of the truth of statements is considered. This study had the goal to develop a logical theory that would allow considering the context (the paradigm) from which would depend on the truth of the statement. For the development of such a theory, called the logic of relativity, the following methods of research are used as abstraction, analysis (traditional), synthesis, deduction, formalisation, axiomatisation, logical method. In order to develop the logic of relativity, it is expedient to use the achievements in the area of situational logic. Under the situation, it is proposed to understand two circumstances (time and space) and a condition that creates a context (paradigm) statement. Specifies the modal values that these three parameters can acquire and examines different types of situations. In order to write statements in the logic of relativity, a form of the statement of statements is proposed in the language of extended symbolic logic. For the theory of the logic of relativity, a set of four axioms is proposed and a series of laws. In particular, it is indicated that the values of the assertions in the logic of relativity are the following five estimates: truth, relative truth, relative is absurd, unclear, uncertain. Some theorems of the logic of relativity are proposed. A number of examples of texts in the natural language are given to interpret the statements of the logic of relativity. It is indicated that the proposed apparatus of the logic of relativity should be regarded as a kind of modal logic. The difference in the logic of relativity from situational logic is that it considers the factor of movement (motion) of statements in time, space and environment conditions, which was not considered by situational logic. The logic of relativity should be used wherever it is necessary to take into account the possibility of moving allegations regarding time, space and environment of conditions. One of the most important conclusions of the study is that in the logic to the standard values of truth (true, probably true, false, uncertain), it is expedient to add another value: relatively true (and accordingly: relatively false).

Perkembangan dan Kesahihan Hadis Dari Awal Islam Hingga Zaman Post Truth

The Post Truth era has made truth relative from a personal point of view not based on scientific facts. Freedom of information access makes the quality not proportional to the existing quantity. This relative truth has implications for the development of hadith which has been consumed by Muslim World in general. From the historical point of view, the modification of the hadith is inseparable from the interests of three Islamic thought orientations, namely Syiah, Ahlusunnah Wal Jamaah and Khawarij. The purpose of this study is to map the history of the development of the hadith from the time of the Prophet Muhammad and how the truth of the traditions used by the community from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to the Post Truth era. The results of this study indicate that the distribution of hadith originated in the early days of Islam, but not in official writing. Then came the official codification period in the caliph Umar bin Abdul Aziz II century Hijri. In the next period the hadith is recorded in the form of books and in the global era the hadith has been in the form of a website to the implications that can be used through smartphones. But in terms of the truth of the hadith in the Post Truth Era is still influenced by the interests of related parties so that the truth must be reviewed. Seeing the many uses of hadith in accordance with the wishes of the stakeholders. The interests are in the form of political interests and the interests of content providers with commercial purposes in various forms such as applications, dissemination on social media.

Terrorism and Violence

Ever since 9/11 in the US and 26/11 in India, terrorism has been a central concern. Gandhi is generally assumed to be of little value when confronting terrorism today. At best, he is irrelevant; at worst, he is complicit and contributes to the crisis since he opposes necessary violent responses. This essay argues that while Gandhi does not have all of the answers for dealing with terrorism today, he provides us with a complex analysis essential for understanding and responding to the multidimensional structural crisis. After analyzing the nature and meaning of terrorism, we focus on the following topics: Gandhi’s interactions with terrorists; his means-ends analysis and his short-term and long-term preventative approaches to terrorism; his analysis of absolute truth and relative truth in approaching terrorism; and his general analysis of the status of “the other” in transforming our relations with violent, terrorizing, and terrorized others.

How Can Gandhi Interpret His Favorite Bhagavad-Gita as a Gospel of Nonviolence?

The Bhagavad-Gita is Gandhi’s guide to daily living. Scholars and Hindu followers of the Gita have found Gandhi’s readings and commentaries of karma-yoga and especially of a nonviolent Gita surprising, inadequate, and a hermeneutical disaster. What distinguishes Gandhi’s interpretation of karma-yoga is his emphasis on the karmic world of relative truth. What is really remarkable is Gandhi’s interpretation of the central message of the Gita as a gospel of ahimsa. How can Gandhi justify such a seemingly bizarre claim? I examine usual interpretations of this claim that one must not take the Gita literally, but must instead read and interpret it as highly symbolic, mythic, allegorical text. More significantly, I attempt to analyze Gandhi’s approach and dramatic nonviolent interpretations by regarding the Gita as a dynamic open-ended text that is always contextualized and involves a key, creative, insightful hermeneutical move of greatest relevance today.

Gandhi after 9/11

The author sees Gandhi, in his writings and his life, as offering the most profound and influential theory, philosophy, and engaged practices of ahimsa. Embracing Gandhi’s insightful critiques of modernity, the book sees his approach as a creative and challenging catalyst to rethink our positions today. As expressed in the book’s title, we live in a post-9/11 world that is defined by widespread physical, psychological, economic, political, cultural, religious, technological, and environmental violence and that is increasingly unsustainable. The author’s central claim is Gandhi’s writings, philosophy, and practices, when selectively appropriated and creatively reformulated and applied, are essential for formulating new positions that are more nonviolent and more sustainable. These provide resources and hope for dealing with our contemporary crises. Two central questions the author poses for the reader are the following: What would a Gandhi-informed, valuable but humanly limited swaraj technology look like and what would a Gandhi-informed, more egalitarian, interconnected, bottom-up, decentralized world of globalization look like? In response, through a collection of essays, the book focuses on key themes in Gandhi’s thought, such as violence and nonviolence, Absolute Truth and relative truth, ethical and spiritual living. Challenging us to consider nonviolent, moral, and truthful transformative alternatives today, the author moves through essays on Gandhi in the age of technology; Gandhi after 9/11 and 26/11 terrorism; Gandhi’s controversial views on the Bhagavad-Gita and Hind Swaraj; Gandhi and Vedanta; Gandhi on socialism; Gandhi and marginality, caste, class, race, and oppressed others.

Gandhian Philosophy

Gandhi is not interested in abstract theoretical philosophical formulations, but rather philosophy as engaged practice. He focuses on living a philosophy of satya (truth) and ahimsa (nonviolence). Gandhi’s primary concern is with developing moral character and practice and with ethics as first philosophy. This is different not only from the history of Western philosophy, but also from traditional Indian philosophy. Gandhi's greatest contribution is his moral and philosophical focus on ahimsa in greatly broadening and deepening our understanding of nonviolence and its integral relations with truth. Usually unappreciated is Gandhi's invaluable analysis of the distinction and integral relations between relative truth and Absolute Truth that challenges philosophical alternatives of essentialism and absolute foundationalism versus modern unlimited relativism. Gandhi's philosophy challenges us with a qualitatively different philosophical view of freedom and human development, critiquing dominant modern models and offering an alternative philosophical paradigm and approach.