ABSTRACT
Relativism and absolutism stand as jointly exhaustive and mutually exclusive, but there is still the problem of giving substance and content to the contrast. Critics of cognitive relativism frequently confuse relativism with idealism, as if they were the same thing or as if a relativist were logically committed to idealism. Idealism has a long and complex history, but for our purposes it is sufficient to see it as comprising two main claims. One popular way to develop a naturalistic perspective is to draw a parallel with biological evolution. One of the pioneers of an explicitly mechanistic approach was the influential, Edinburgh trained, Cambridge psychologist Kenneth Craik. Of course, the naturalistic stance doesn't end with psychologists. It is shared by many practitioners of anthropology, sociology and history who adopt a matter-of-fact approach to knowledge. They bring into the story a concern for interaction, convention and shared cultural resources. The ultimate learning machine is a social institution.
