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Cultural Relativism
Cultural Relativism
Culture impact on behavior
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In the Cultural Relativism point of view, “…values and morality are culture specific and not the result of universal reason. They’re what a community believes, and that’s it” (Schmitz, 2012, p.154). The vision of ethics is defined by the local culture, and the traditional ethical theories don't apply to them; this means, the common sense is not what is right or what is wrong, but what is the need to survive. In this case of study (Mordidas), we can see that Mexico City has a parallel way to handle traffic tickets applied by the police. Looking in the ethical terms, this parallel way to receive money, directly from the drivers and not doing the correct process seems really wrong (bribe); but in the eyes of cultural relativism, it became a normal
Putting aside corruption, cultural relativism acknowledges bribery as a culture-specific Mexican value, and therefore not morally wrong. With this mindset, it could be argued that the ability to pay a legitimate traffic violation "fine" on the spot is convenient, more so if paying the bribe keeps the infraction off one’s driving record. An altruist might say that bribes help support law enforcement and their families. This notion presupposes that the violator has sufficient funds.
In business, creating a culture of ethical behavior and productivity are two of the most important elements in daily operations. There are deferring opinions on how to establish those standards. One standard is universal in which human rights are general and should apply to every human being or having a one-size fits all standard of practice (Hugh, M.C., 2002). For example, an organization could great a set of ethical standards that universal and standard to apply to its members. However, the opposing view is cultural relativism, where the view that all values are meaningful only within specific cultures (Hugh, M.C., 2002). In other words, each culture defines what is right and what is wrong. Applying this to business, an organization can create ethical standards that are specific to their service line and provide specificity to members about their services, behavior, and social
Determining what is good and what is bad is almost impossible to do. Each individual person & culture both have a different opinion on that. Realistically, there is no one person who can determine if morals are in fact correct or wrong. This is the biggest and most argued flaw with the idea of cultural relativism. Some important facts about cultural relativism is that the idea that a person’s culture shapes their morals and beliefs has been studied for over a century. Bernard Williams is one of the most renowned researches into the topic of cultural relativity. One of the biggest examples of cultural relativism is the treatment of women in Middle Eastern countries, compared to the treatment of women in Western Countries. Another great example of this theory is that children in America are raised to believe that dogs are pets, while in other countries, such as China, dogs are considered a source of food. This theory is most debated through the religious world because religious sects believe that their set of morals is the only correct ones. culturally traditional things begin to shift and change in order to appease the world view of said culture. When you visit other country, keep in mind that there are varied cultures and tradition. Some of the traits or behavior that you are accustomed or familiar
The United States was founded by immigrants; its whole culture consists of immigrant’s contribution to it along with their hard work and sacrifice. If it weren’t for Mexican immigrants the Mexican Americans, who were behind some of the major social movements of the 20th century, would not have been able to accomplish all that they did. Mexican American culture and politics was shaped by the three waves of migration after and during World War I, World War II, and the Cold War which created new identities, social movements, and migration laws.
However, cultural relativism is not the most satisfactory moral theory. ‘“Cultural relativism implies that another common place of moral life illusion moral disagreement, and such inconsistencies hint that there may be something amiss with relativism. It seems it conflicts violently with common sense realities of the moral life. The doctrine implies that each person is morally infallible”’ (Vaughn 14).
With this in mind, cultural relativism does have limits. As each culture develops its personal moral system, one can push the principle of cultural relativism to extremes. For example, taking an extreme relativist position, one cannot oppose any culturally-accepted forms of homicide, such as infanticide (Textbook 301). Therefore, the moral complexity of taking a cultural relativist stance on various issues has been increasingly
Every individual is taught what is right and what is wrong from a young age. It becomes innate of people to know how to react in situations of killings, injuries, sicknesses, and more. Humans have naturally developed a sense of morality, the “beliefs about right and wrong actions and good and bad persons or character,” (Vaughn 123). There are general issues such as genocide, which is deemed immoral by all; however, there are other issues as simple as etiquette, which are seen as right by one culture, but wrong and offense by another. Thus, morals and ethics can vary among regions and cultures known as cultural relativism.
Rachels, J. (1986). The Challenge of Cultural Relativism. The elements of moral philosophy (pp. 20-36). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
In explaining Cultural Relativism, it is useful to compare and contrast it with Ethical Relativism. Cultural Relativism is a theory about morality focused on the concept that matters of custom and ethics are not universal in nature but rather are culture specific. Each culture evolves its own unique moral code, separate and apart from any other. Ethical Relativism is also a theory of morality with a view of ethics similarly engaged in understanding how morality comes to be culturally defined. However, the formulation is quite different in that from a wide range of human habits, individual opinions drive the culture toward distinguishing normal “good” habits from abnormal “bad” habits. The takeaway is that both theories share the guiding principle that morality is bounded by culture or society.
Culture Relativism; what is it? Culture Relativism states that we cannot absolute say what is right and what is wrong because it all depends in the society we live in. James Rachels however, does not believe that we cannot absolute know that there is no right and wrong for the mere reason that cultures are different. Rachels as well believes that “certain basic values are common to all cultures.” I agree with Rachels in that culture relativism cannot assure us that there is no knowledge of what is right or wrong. I believe that different cultures must know what is right and what is wrong to do. Cultures are said to be different but if we look at them closely we can actually find that they are not so much different from one’s own culture. Religion for example is a right given to us and that many cultures around the world practices. Of course there are different types of religion but they all are worshipped and practice among the different culture.
The cultural relativism principle acknowledges that there should be a respect between cultures. This comes from the point of the theory that tries to “avoid making value judgments about the beliefs and customs of the people they [anthropologists] study, even tho...
There are different countries and cultures in the world, and as being claimed by cultural relativists, there is no such thing as “objective truth in morality” (Rachels, 2012). Cultural relativists are the people who believe in the Cultural Ethical Relativism, which declares that different cultures value different thing so common ethical truth does not exist. However, philosopher James Rachels argues against this theory due to its lack of invalidity and soundness. He introduced his Geographical Differences Argument to point out several mistakes in the CER theory. Cultural Ethical Relativism is not totally wrong because it guarantees people not to judge others’ cultures; but, Rachels’ viewpoints make a stronger argument that this theory should not be taken so far even though he does not reject it eventually.
In this paper I will argue that cultural relativism is a weak argument. Cultural relativism is the theory that all ethical and moral claims are relative to culture and custom (Rachels, 56). Pertaining to that definition, I will present the idea that cultural relativism is flawed in the sense that it states that there is no universal standard of moral and ethical values. First, I will suggest that cultural relativism underestimates similarities between cultures. Second, I will use the overestimating differences perspective to explain the importance of understanding context, intention and purpose behind an act. Finally, referring to James Rachels’ “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism” I will solidify my argument further using his theory that
The practices of many cultures are varied from one another, considering we live in a diverse environment. For example, some cultures may be viewed as similar in comparison while others may have significant differences. The concept of Cultural Relativism can be best viewed as our ideas, morals, and decisions being dependent on the individual itself and how we have been culturally influenced. This leads to many conflict in where it prompts us to believe there is no objectivity when it comes to morality. Some questions pertaining to Cultural Relativism may consists of, “Are there universal truths of morality?” “Can we judge
Many theories attempt to explain ethical standards and how certain cultures perceive these standards or practices. When explaining certain ethical standards Cultural Relativism is an failed illogical theory for many reasons. Cultural Relativism is a theory that attempts to explain an idea that no culture is superior to any other culture and that all people’s perspectives are biased by their own cultural background. Generally, it is the opinion that all cultures are of equal value and equality to each other, therefore, there is no one culture is inferior to any other.