Hospitable Hosts, Educated Elites: Relativism vs. Absolutism in the writings of Alberuni and Ibn Battuta
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published 02/06/2008
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SummaryIn exploring nations and cultures outside of their own, Alberuni and Ibn Battuta encountered ideologies, customs, and practices that stood in opposition to the beliefs and ways of life they personally upheld. Faced with foreign behavior and thought, the authors found themselves in a position to judge, to criticize or compliment the outside culture. Both authors incorporated cultural relativism (the doctrine that all judgment is relative, and that one must look at a culture from an insider’s point of view to judge it) in some instances of their texts, and adopt culturally absolutist standpoints (judgment based on an absolute, universal scale without considering different cultural circumstances) in others. Though neither is clearly absolutist or relativist, the authors have separate reasons for reserving judgment.
Table of Contents
- Alberuni's relativism in the qualitative sciences.
- Relativism ceases when Alberuni is discussing the sciences of numbers and measurement.
- He shows remarkable relativism when discussing the 'educated' Hindu.
- Another factor in Ibn Battuta's relativism is his level of personal security.
- Ibn Battuta makes no special claim to objectivity as does Alberuni.
- Alberuni's scholarship determines his relativism toward educated classes and toward qualitative sciences.
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