We explain what something relative is, examples and what relativism is. Also, what does it mean that everything is relative.
What is something relative?
When we say that something is "relative" or "relative", we mean that it is related to something else, that is, that its exact and complete meaning cannot be determined if we do not take into account something else on which it depends. In other words, it is not an absolute, universal, full term, but must be understood in conjunction with other factors.
For example, if we say that in one country there is greater «relative poverty» than in another, we are affirming that in that country there is greater proportion of people who cannot cover their basic needs than in the other, but to measure it we must take into account the variable cost of these basic needs.
For example, a person earning US$500 a month may count as middle class in some countries and as poor in others, depending on how high the cost of living is in each country.
Another illustrative example would be to state that the population gives relative importance to government announcements, meaning that said importance is not absolute, it is not full, but rather depends on various other factors.
Although these factors are not named in the sentence (perhaps because they can be many!), the meaning of the term remains: what is relative depends on third factors, on things that are not being taken into account or cannot be taken into account.
In this way, the most colloquial meaning of the adjective "relative" has to do with that which cannot be fully affirmed, that is variable or doubtful, that which "depends on the context".
This adjective came from the Latin relativus (“that has to do with something” or “that leads back to something else”), made up of the prefix re- (“backwards” or “repeatedly”), the verb iron (“carry” or lead”) and the suffix -ive, which indicates passive relationship.
Other examples of sentences that use this adjective are:
- The profits of a company are always relative, if one thinks about how much is spent producing.
- Love has to be total, not relative. Either he loves with everything, or he doesn't love at all.
- They gave us a lecture relating to Roman antiquity.
What does it mean that everything is relative?
The colloquial expression that "everything is relative" is very common, we can even find it in the lyrics of some songs. The meaning of this expression is that nothing is absolute in itself, that is to say, that everything always has links with the rest of the immediate universe and that these links must be taken into account when thinking about a matter.
“Everything is relative” means that everything depends on something else, or on the things that are taken into consideration, that is, everything depends on the point of view.
We can understand this better with an example. Let us suppose that a person murders another, for reasons unknown to us. From the outset, this is a monstrous, criminal, reprehensible event. But what happens if we later find out that the murdered person was going to commit, in turn, a murder? This information changes our judgment on the first homicide, since it saved the life of a third.
Now let us suppose, again, that this third party whose life was saved turns out to be the greatest criminal of all time, a sort of reincarnated Adolf Hitler. How do we now understand the person who was about to assassinate him? Like a hero.
And the person who stopped him, assassinating him before he could kill the new Hitler? As an accomplice to the latter's crimes.Let's see how our considerations have changed since the initial murder.
In this example we have seen that our judgment about each crime committed is relative, that is, it depends on the information that we handle in this regard. That same logic, according to the saying, is what we must apply to all things in life, since all are, in one way or another, relative.
relativism
In the field of philosophy and the theory, is known as relativism to the philosophical school that denies the existence of truths Absolute, in whatever field. This school considers all knowledge to be incomplete, that is to say, that everything we take for absolute and universal is so only because we ignore an important part of the information.
According to this philosophical school, the knowledge human is incomplete, subjective, incapable of any objectivity, since whenever we think we do so influenced by our history and our culture, that is, from ideas preconceived.
Relativism is an antimetaphysical school, developed in fields of knowledge such as anthropology, the sociology and the philosophy itself. It covers branches such as moral relativism (good and evil are relative), cultural relativism (there are no backward and advanced cultures) or linguistic relativism (the acquisition and handling of the spoken language is subjective, it varies according to the speaker), among other.