RE: Is it bad to kill people?
A relativist in essence cannot prove relativism, because that would mean there is at least one absolute truth.
Well, the only statement I make as a relativist is that I cannot be sure of anything other than the fact that I exist, at least in thought or abstraction. I don't claim that it's impossible to know or that there is no truth, only that I have been unable to ascertain those truths and I've built my life and moral system from that doubt.
Things like being sure that my body exists, my surroundings, norms and even more the dogmas of belief and faith, I can only feel uncertain about them. If I can't be certain of what I can see, I can even be less certain of what I cannot see. Although I do not claim to know any truths beyond my own existence, that truth persists and reverberates in everything I do or say, making all my philosophy be filled with scepticism.
I am a practicing Roman Catholic.
I've been talking with another Roman Catholic very recently. I find that it's a very interesting belief system. It's kind of like the opposite of my mindset so it's really, really hard for me to stand in your shoes and say that I could believe something so specific. I still respect your belief, though. Everybody has their own reasons to believe what they believe.
And thank you too. :) it's always good to have some sober comments from smart people. It's always more fun like that.
Well, if you believe you exist I think that would be an absolute truth. For example, if I told you that you were a unicorn dreaming it was a person, and you told me I was wrong, then "I exist" is an absolute truth. Even one truth is one too many for relativism.
I would agree Catholicism is quite different than relativism. It wasn't easy for me to accept a number of Catholic teachings, and I spent some time as a teen trying to research my way out of it. I only ended up more convinced.
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I made an article where I talk about what you said.
Cogito, ergo sum — The meaning behind "I think; therefore, I exist"
For me, relativism is about the rest of the truths. I cannot be sure of the absolute existence of other people, of rules, patterns and everything studied by science, of anything I perceive, but I cannot deny that I perceive, or at least I think that I do, and therefore thought exists, and I have an abstract conception of myself, of self-identity (I identify as myself), so I exist, because "I" is just a word that denotes the abstract perception of the self as an individual, which is precisely what I perceive.
As I can only be certain of two things (existence of thought and myself as an abstraction of identity), such a strict definition of relativism where you can't be sure of even one truth isn't very adjusted to reality. If my philosophical views can't be called relativism, then I don't know any other name for them (relativistic solipsism or something like that, perhaps).