Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute

REVIEWS AND COMMENTS BY MURRAY N. ROTHBARD 115
comparison of the positivists with their grandfather Hume,
to the detriment of the former. Finally, Strauss delivers a
very interesting and good critique of the “pessimistic” relativism
of the existentialists.
I know that there were some emotional disagreements
between Mises, Leoni, and Strauss at the symposium, but
despite the fact that my personal sympathies are with the
former, I must conclude that this is a very fine paper by
Strauss, making many excellent points, and on the one
topic where he can do a good job.
Eliseo Vivas,
“Reiterations and Second Thoughts
on Cultural Relativism” 66
This is a fine paper, making some very keen criticisms of
the cultural relativism engaged in by fashionable cultural
anthropology, as well as a philosophic attack on cultural
determinism: the idea that one’s culture necessarily determines
one’s values. This concept is linked with cultural relativism,
and receives a fine flailing from Vivas.
Vivas maintains that civilization is better, morally superior,
to the cultures of primitive tribes, and bases his views
on the position that knowledge of the nature of man permit
one to say this. There are many sub-arguments, and all are
worth reading. Adding to the merit of the article is Vivas’s
lucid style, which graces most of his writings.
While a gracefully stylistic paper, it is also a scholarly
one, and Vivas provides reference leads to many recent
works that appear to be promising: e.g., McGilvary,
Macbeath, etc. There are also many pithy comments in passing
about how the ancient Greeks knew all about the “cultural
relativism” of numerous barbarian cultures, of how
professional relativism has been used to weaken sexual
66 Eliseo Vivas, “Reiterations and Second Thoughts on Cultural
Relativism,” in Schoeck and Wiggins, eds., Relativism, pp. 45–73.