[Buddha-l] Universalism?

[JKirkpatrick]

Oh, come on.
Universalism does not mean only Christian or religious
universalism. It's application and ideological function has been
a big trend in social sciences for decades already, counterpoised
to relativism. 

The term can be applied to anything--not just religions. It can
be applied to any sort of cultural belief system, or to use a
more trendy term, any sort of cultural imaginary. (The
Foucauldians would be annoyed by that remark.)  
It can also be applied in science, as in physiological biology.
Boas insisted that the human brain was the same everywhere,
despite cultural difference-- ergo, a human universal. The
relativists criticised this idea as going too far by overlooking
particularities. And on and on. Once things get to this point
argumentatoinally, we are in the realm of metaphysics--or, as
Kenneth Burke used to say, in the realm of god terms.

Joanna