A Relatively Real World: Putnam Versus Rorty

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I believe acknowledgement of debt or gratitude falls short of our thoughts of thankfulness for the simple reason that the gap between the inner mind and the outer manifestation of our feelings and emotions can never be bridged through language. Hence acknowledgement of gratitude always implies much more than what is expressed. Nevertheless, first of all I would like to acknowledge my immense indebtedness to my husband, Tariq Majid Shah, for coaring me to undertake this work of publication of my thesis, despite my deep reluctance to do it. I would like to acknowledge my deep gratitude to my Ph.D. supervisor Professor Chhanda Gupta, Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, under whose guidance I have been able to complete my work. My appreciation of her intellectual and moral support knows no bounds. By her valuable suggestions she has virtually steered me through this voluminous task and I feel privileged to work under a scholar of her erudition and vision in the field of Philosophy. Words truly fall short for my gratefulness to her for the power she instilled in me to feel.

Positive when confidence ebbed. I would like to acknowledge my debt to Professor Kalyan Sen Gupta for the fruitful discussions I had with him on many issues.

I would next like to acknowledge my hearfelt gratitude for the present principal of my college, Dr. Subrata kumar Roy, for his constant prodding which acted as a strong inspiration to publish my work. If not for his motivation and support, I may not have been able to complete the work so smoothly.

I would like to acknowledge my debt to the staffs of Prabhu Jagatbandhu College, Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and without whose cooperation my work would have remained incomplete. Their selfless support helped me in an in-depth research work.

I want to extend my gratitude to the staffs of the libraries which I visited during my research like the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, Lucknow, National Library, Kolkata, Department of Philosophy of Jadavpur University and University of Kolkata, for their kind cooperation. I want to particularly mention the contribution of the office staff of the Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University.

This dissertation is an attempt to look at the world, not as real or relative, but as relatively real. The title of my work is definitely provocative philosophically speaking, as it seems to weld together two views that are generally believed to be opposed to each other, namely, Realism and Relativism. So, one who speaks of "A Relatively Real World" has her feet pluncated in both the boats which is apparently intriguing. It is generally believed that the world can either be real or relative. It is the minimal requirement of realism that a world is not dependent on us. But relativism insists that the real or whatever there is must be seen as something that is indissolubly linked with us. The title seems to suggest a transgression by either side, which has to be tackled with a strong hand. For if one takes the side of realism, then one can talk about a real world and not a relatively real world. Because to be a realist, one must be minimally committed to the view that the world is not our own making. In other words, one has to maintain that the world is independent of us, our minds, knowledge, language, and ways of viewing and interpreting. But, these, generally speaking, are what we refer to when we talk about relativity. For relativity is understood as relativity to human mind, knowledge, language, viewpoint, interpretation etc. So, a realist who believes in the independence of the world - independence, that is to say, of the world from human conception, knowledge etc. will surely not be ready to accept the characterization of the world as something that is relatively real. Rather, the independence that the minimal realistic commitment demands seems to suggest that the independent real is something which is non-relational.