Eskimos Cultural Relativism

 Cultural relativism is the philosophical approach which suggests that it is difficult to make assessments and judgments against other cultures.

 What might be considered as morally right or wrong in one culture can be different from what is accepted in another

 For example, the Greeks believed it was immoral to eat the dead whereas the Callatians believed it was right to eat the death.

 Here, eating of the dead is neither wrong nor right. It is simply a matter of opinion.

 Different cultures follow different moral codes and it varies from one culture to another.

 There is no absolute universal moral code.

 In most scenarios, we are caught up with our own ideas of right and wrong that we fail to have an open mind about the different

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Case Study:

 Eskimos are often looked upon for their common practice of killing healthy infants especially girls. Whereas, if the parent had killed the child in an American society, it would have landed he/she in jail. Their moral codes are at two polar ends. If we constrain our minds to think that infanticide is immoral, we won’t be able to analyze and understand the reason why Eskimos believe in such a practice.

 Their reasons being that it was not due to the lack of respect of human life but the circumstances and living conditions. Eskimos live in a harsh environment where there is limited food. A family might want to nourish a child but the conditions might not be favorable.

 Eskimo mothers would have to nourish the child for a longer time (four years or longer) so she could only sustain few children.

 Also, the Eskimos led a nomadic life. They had to keep moving in search of food. The mother would be able to carry only one child in her parka.

 Unwanted pregnancies were common as the Eskimos lacked birth control

 Infant girls were more readily killed as the hunters suffered a high causality rate. The females would have outnumbered the