Cultural Relativism Essay

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Recommended: Compare and contrast Utilitarianism with Deontological Ethics

Deeper into Ethics Ethics is defined as a study that deals with what behavior is considered to be, good or bad. Ethics is about doing what is right for other people throughout society (Kraft). Ethical principles result from religions, philosophies, and cultural ideas. The world is changing and so is everything in it, judgments about what is ethically right and wrong are also changing. Ethical relativism is important within society, along with utilitarianism, deontology, virtue-based ethics, and ethical principles of healthcare. Ethical subdivision is a complex way of saying that an individual’s morals, personal views on what is right and wrong, are completely within that individual’s control. For example, I may feel that abortion is unlawful …show more content…

For example, it is within my culture to attend church on Sundays if I were to get marries my husband would have to accept my accomplished cultural, weather he did so by going with me or accepting my cultural values. Cultures very from many different thigs. The idea of cultural relativism is not to judge the action, but simply to understand is based on the culture which it occurs (Kraft). Although ethical subdivision and cultural relativism seem relatively the same there is indeed a difference. Cultural relativism speculates that the way an individual acts, behaves, and distinguishes between things is according to their cultures. Whereas, ethical subdivision emphasizes precisely on what each culture determines to be right or wrong (BCC). For example within the Belkin text particularly with Landon’s case there was a conflict between two doctors on whose decision …show more content…

Jose wanted the parents to take appropriate measures and have surgery for their son whereas Ian thought surgery was a waste of time and the parents should let this boy live. Morally both doctors were correct, they both had a decision on what was right in the situation and neither of them were wrong. Ian thought Jose was wrong he Jose thought Ian was wrong but that was because they each had different morals and were grew up with separate cultures that lead them to the conclusions each human thought was right. Nonetheless why do we as individuals take different perspectives on situations? For the most part, ethical subjectivists and cultural relativists are driven to their respective positions by their desire not to be ethical “know it alls” or cultural imperialists who mistake their particular moral views for the absolutely right moral views for everyone, everywhere (Tong p7). So that means individuals take these perspectives to test their norms against other people without having to be ethical. An objections of ethical subjectivism is there is no of proving that someone it morally right no matter how many facts given because someone else’s morals may contradict yours. An

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