So for example, if we want to compare a nuclear physicist with a witchdoctor, would we be comparing them on the scale of their contribution to world peace, or maybe to settling local feuds, of their annual salary?
Comparison is valid. Some societies are much better at producing motor cars than others and some societies are better at producing long-distance runners. The type of comparison which is not valid is comparison of human beings and their ways of life *as a whole*.
I think this was implicit in David's paradox. Andy Carol Macdonald wrote:
But, for me relativism is a farce--e.g. the witchdoctor having the same power as a nuclear physicist? USAID and DFiD don't believe this, and neither do I.
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