First, it defeats itself. If all truth is relative, then relativism falls into that category and cannot claim to be absolutely true. Why then, should we believe it?
Second, relativism is untenable because it entails that opposites are true. For example, some might assert that it can be true for one person, that God exists, but true for another that He does not exist. Those two concepts, however, are mutually exclusive. It cannot be the case that God both exists and does not exist. Either He does or does not.
Third, the relativist view renders knowledge impossible. Gaining knowledge presupposes moving from a state of no-knowledge to a state of knowledge. If relativism is true, however, neither state truly exists, and learning is rendered impossible.
The relativist may ague that it’s impossible to absolutely understand truth. But in saying that, she mixes concepts. She assumes that belief in absolute truth requires that one has an absolute understanding of truth. She may object that the notion is absolute truth is narrow, bigoted, or close-minded. But her belief is a narrow claim, and thus falls prey to the same criticism. She is asserting that the concept of relative truth is better than that of absolute truth. She is just as narrow-minded.
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Relativist: People once believed the world was flat, but no longer.
Response: The earth’s shape never changed. People merely traded a false belief for a true one.
Relativist: The statement “I feel warm,” is true only for the person sensing that feeling.
Response: It’s true for all people that the person making that statement feels warmth.
Relativist: “It’s cold at the North Pole” is not true everywhere, such as the equator.
Response: It’s true for everyone, everywhere, that it’s cold at the North Pole.
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“You Christians Are So Closed-Minded”
Open-mindedness has become a self-evident virtue in our society and a closed mind, a sign of ignorance and depravity. However, this thinking is based on half-truths. Surely, it is good to admit the possibility that one might be wrong and never good to maintain a position no matter what the evidence is against it. Also, one should never make a firm decision without examining all the evidence without prejudice. That is the half-truth that ropes us into this view, but a half-truth is a whole lie. Are we still to remain open-minded when all reason says that there can be only one conclusion? That is the same as the error of the closed mind. In fact, openness is the most closed-minded position of all because it eliminates any absolute view from consideration. What if the absolute view is true? Isn’t openness taken to be absolute? In the long run, openness cannot really be true unless it is open to some real absolutes that cannot be denied. Open-mindedness should not be confused with empty-mindedness. One should never remain open to a second alternative when only one can be true.
“If truth never changes, then there can’t be any new truth.” New truth can be understood in two ways. It might mean “new to us,” like a new discovery in science. But that is only a matter of us discovering an old truth. The truth has always been there, but we are just finding out about it. The other way we might understand new truth is that something new has come into existence. Absolutism has no trouble handling this either. When January 1, 2022 arrives, a new truth will be born because then it will be true to say, “This is January 1, 2022.”That can never be true before then. “Old” truths don’t change but “new” truths can come to be.
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