Culture reltivism
Ethical Theory
Philosophy 350
Sept. 23 2013
Cultural Relativism
The world is home to many strange customs developed by many different societies. Countries like the United States have regions with in it that hold different values and morals, even speech. This is what describes cultural relativism. When ideals like human life being sacred, intelligence, cannibalism, parenticide, etc. are valued or unvalued according to the society/culture. In scrutinizing a culture or remarking upon their strange ways and beliefs it is hard to criticize their abnormality, because observers only have their customs to make comparisons. Considering this, observers reserve their judgments upon the culture/society out of respect and according to Mary Midgley it functions as the opposite. Midgley states “to respect someone, we have to know enough about him [or the culture] to make a favourable judgement,” and to not participate in, what she describes the phenomenon to be, “moral isolationism” (Midgley 522). She rationalizes that in participating in moral isolationism we paralyze and ban moral reasoning (Midgley 523). People outside a culture can neither praise nor damn said culture effectively because of the negligence in fully understanding different aspects and rationality of the society. Midgley uses the example of ancient Edo Japanese samurai who performed tsujigiri (Midgley provides the literal translation to mean, “crossroads cut”) on wayfarers in order to try out their new sword(s) (Midgley 522). She points out how many would think this a brutal and wrong; however, she further elaborates the fact that ancient Japanese had “lower value…placed on individual life in general,” and how much discipline and devotion the samurai had at their skill and way of life (Midgley 524). This establishes the fact that moral code of “right” and “wrong” is almost entirely cultural-dependent and yet these cultures, as a collective, are similar in some ways. The universalism thesis helps
Philosophy 350
Sept. 23 2013
Cultural Relativism
The world is home to many strange customs developed by many different societies. Countries like the United States have regions with in it that hold different values and morals, even speech. This is what describes cultural relativism. When ideals like human life being sacred, intelligence, cannibalism, parenticide, etc. are valued or unvalued according to the society/culture. In scrutinizing a culture or remarking upon their strange ways and beliefs it is hard to criticize their abnormality, because observers only have their customs to make comparisons. Considering this, observers reserve their judgments upon the culture/society out of respect and according to Mary Midgley it functions as the opposite. Midgley states “to respect someone, we have to know enough about him [or the culture] to make a favourable judgement,” and to not participate in, what she describes the phenomenon to be, “moral isolationism” (Midgley 522). She rationalizes that in participating in moral isolationism we paralyze and ban moral reasoning (Midgley 523). People outside a culture can neither praise nor damn said culture effectively because of the negligence in fully understanding different aspects and rationality of the society. Midgley uses the example of ancient Edo Japanese samurai who performed tsujigiri (Midgley provides the literal translation to mean, “crossroads cut”) on wayfarers in order to try out their new sword(s) (Midgley 522). She points out how many would think this a brutal and wrong; however, she further elaborates the fact that ancient Japanese had “lower value…placed on individual life in general,” and how much discipline and devotion the samurai had at their skill and way of life (Midgley 524). This establishes the fact that moral code of “right” and “wrong” is almost entirely cultural-dependent and yet these cultures, as a collective, are similar in some ways. The universalism thesis helps
Cited: Midgley, Mary Trying Out One’s New Sword Reason and Responsibility. Ed. Joel Feinberg & Russ Shafer-Landau. 12th ed. Thomson Wadsworth. 2005. Print. Fluehr-Lobban, Carolyn Anthropologists, Cultural Relativism, and Universal Rights The Chronicle of Higher Education. 1995 Geertz, C., 1984, Distinguished Lecture: Anti Anti-Relativism. American Anthropologist 86:263-78. Blackford, Russell Book review: Sam Harris’ The Moral Landscape Journal of Evolution and Technology. Vol. 21. 53-62. Print. Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 53, No. 3, Universal Human Rights versus Cultural Relativity. U. of New Mexico (Autumn, 1997), pp. 319-347. Print.