Summarize the debate between universalism and relativism concerning the nature of truth.
Some individuals who claimed or sought to have discovered universal truths about people in particular or the world in general are universals. Such individuals have been found throughout the histories of psychology, philosophy, and science. Description of general essences, laws, or principles, which govern the world and people’s perception about it, is the goal of such universals.
Some other individuals doubt the existence of such universal truths, and are relativists. According to them, observations are always influenced by humans. Thus, the universals would be unsuccessful in searching truths that are not dependent on human existence. According to them, there are only truth and not a single truth.
The first articulation of this debate between relativism and universalism was done by early Greek philosophers. Also, in the history of psychology and philosophy, this debate has been an ongoing theme. An example of such a debate can be easily observed in the philosophies of Kuhn and Popper.
According to Kuhn, who was a relativist, the conceptions of the world change with the changes in the paradigms. Thus, there is no independent existence of truth without paradigm. On the other hand, Popper, who was a universalist, believed that approximation of the existence and knowledge of a physical world can be done by being engaged in the kind of science described by him.