Death and Furniture: the rhetoric, politics and theology of bottom line arguments against relativism

Choosing a Qualitative Research Method

“…The reasons against seeing some phenomena (e.g. death) as constructed is said to be defended through the use of 'bottom line arguments' (Edwards et al, 1995). Critical realists worry that the relativist position could lead to a political and moral relativism and that a failure to go beyond the text might mean that important issues like embodiment and subjectivity cannot be fully researched (Cromby & Nightingale, 1999;Gill, 1995;Parker, 1998;Velody & Williams, 1998).…”

The role of context in conversation analysis: Reviving an interest in ethno-methods

“…Appeals to 'what is there' seem certainly problematic for discursive psychologists, like Potter, who have adopted and defended a relativistic epistemological stance in many academic publications (Edwards, Ashmore and Potter, 1995;Potter, 1996).…”

Discourse Analytic Practice

“…Indeed, discourse analysts have provided some of the most explicit defences of relativism in recent social science (Edwards, et al, 1995). Conversation analysts in particular have tended to take a more robust view of science and knowledge.…”