Relativism: So What? (Part Four)

Here are six ideas that I associate with "relativism." I agree with (1) through (4), disagree with (5) and (6), but I think that (5) and (6) are where all the action is. If no one associated (5) and (6) with (1) through (4), there'd be no hullabaloo. (A better way of putting this might be that people link (5) and (6) to (1) through (4) so that they can have their hullabaloo.) I'm just sketching the ideas, might give each its own post later or elaborate here in the comments.

(1) ( Independent is a relative term, like soft and loud or cold and hot, rather than being either/or, like an on-off switch )

(2) ( For any phenomenon to be meaningful there has to be a difference between its happening and its not happening )

(3) ( Separated from its support it is not even a lever; it may be anything, or nothing )

(4) ( If people make radically different assumptions they'll use crucial words differently and they'll come up with different facts, hence they can't simply look at the facts to see who is right )

(5) ( If you are ensconced within one culture you can't understand another one )

(6) ( Nothing is better than anything else )

My hypothesis is that, even among thoughtful people, "relativism" is a stand-in issue (and I'm including within "relativism" the attempts to find social implications for pragmatism or deconstruction). But I'm not wedded to that hypothesis, and I'd expect that ludickid, dubdobdee, byebyepride, piratemoggy, and martinskidmore would want to dispute it.