Relativism, Time-Gap, and Unrelatedness

Abstract

In this paper I wish to extract from the problem of relativism the possibility and impossibility of “we”, which is closely connected with time-gap and unrelatedness. (1) Relativism escapes self-contradiction through double-relativization (both horizontal and vertical), and relativization is released to infinite meta-levels. (2) Relativization leads not to pluralism and egalitarianism, but to “our” scheme that repeats the difference between the meta-level and the object-level. (3) “Our” scheme includes not only a level-gap but also a time-gap. A time-gap which both connects and disconnects two moments makes the repetition of “we”(infinite relativization)both possible and impossible. (4) Dream scepticism as well is made both possible and impossible by time-gap. (5) Time-gap shows the limit of relativism-an unrelated relationship. However, it cannnot completely absorb the unrelatedness between a relationship and an unrelatedness, which can be in a certain case called “reality being jumped over”. It is by that kind of reality that repeating “we” (infinite relativization) is paralyzed.