Historism – Partisanship - Racism: On the Erosion of the Epistemic Foundations of Knowledge

Abstract

Often referred to as “historism”, historical-cultural relativism in its variant dating back to the 19th century has often been interpreted as an expression of a weak and insecure attitude, and has been opposed above all by the two great totalitarian movements of the 20th century. Against the more recent historism, postmodernism and its demands for tolerance, which are supposedly only of use to the ruling class, its opponents proclaim values, moral norms and cognitive criteria that are closely linked to the ethnicity and race of these critics. Even cognitive universality is mere ideology for them.