Relativism and the Ontological Turn within Anthropology
@article{Palecek2013RelativismAT, title={Relativism and the Ontological Turn within Anthropology}, author={Martin Palecek and Mark Risjord}, journal={Philosophy of the Social Sciences}, year={2013}, volume={43}, pages={23 - 3} }
The “ontological turn” is a recent movement within cultural anthropology. Its proponents want to move beyond a representationalist framework, where cultures are treated as systems of belief (concepts, etc.) that provide different perspectives on a single world. Authors who write in this vein move from talk of many cultures to many “worlds,” thus appearing to affirm a form of relativism. We argue that, unlike earlier forms of relativism, the ontological turn in anthropology is not only immune to…
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