Humanity has moved from a philosophical worldview that accepted the existence of absolute truth to a world of relative truths contingent on society. From Plato’s ancient paradigm of absolute truths transcending space and time to the post-modern paradigm of twentieth century philosophers, such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, that truth is contingent on society.
This paradigm shift was primarily motivated by a desire to render philosophy more scientific. The shift was further propelled by philosophical dilemmas that arose in the quest to make philosophy more scientific and less metaphysical. For example, what Kant called the scandal of philosophy--the problem of proving the existence of the external world. Wittgenstein’s contention in Philosophical Investigations that truth was relative and contingent on community indoctrination dealt with the skeptical problems like the existence of the external world while at the same time explaining the world in strictly materialist terms.
