Is Moral Relativism justified by the Cultural Differences Argument?
Every man in this world defends his concepts of what is morally right or what is morally wrong, otherwise known as ethics. If ethics wasn’t studied or systematized, concepts that shape our every day life would be questioned with lack of knowledge, just as if any other scholarly subject wasn’t studied such as math or English. Albert Camus once stated, “A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.”
According to Benedict’s “A Defense of Moral Relativism,” every culture has to draw a line between what is normal and what is abnormal. The line between normality and abnormality has to be distinguished in order to understand others in that same culture. For example, noises that people in American culture make. If a girl takes a large, deep, disappointed sigh after climbing out of bed, we would infer that she is just tired or doesn’t want to wake yet. In our culture, we would not find a noise or reaction like that relevant. However, then a boy asked that girl on a date, and she responded with the same big, disappointed sigh as earlier. That boy would then hopefully understand that her disappointed sigh is probably not a yes. Some noises and gestures we make are not relevant to a conversation or any part of communication in a normal daily routine, while that same noise or gesture can be used to portray a feeling or response without even having to use words. For another example, take a cough. A cough is not used to portray a feeling or used for a means of communication. Benedict says that this is why we have to draw a line between normality and abnormality, so that we as a culture can understand simple conversations, what people are trying to communicate, and be able to respond correctly, or not at all.
Benedict states in her argument “In so far as a civilization is well integrated and consistent within itself, it will tend to carry farther and farther, according to its nature, its initial impulse toward a particular type of action, and from the point
According to Benedict’s “A Defense of Moral Relativism,” every culture has to draw a line between what is normal and what is abnormal. The line between normality and abnormality has to be distinguished in order to understand others in that same culture. For example, noises that people in American culture make. If a girl takes a large, deep, disappointed sigh after climbing out of bed, we would infer that she is just tired or doesn’t want to wake yet. In our culture, we would not find a noise or reaction like that relevant. However, then a boy asked that girl on a date, and she responded with the same big, disappointed sigh as earlier. That boy would then hopefully understand that her disappointed sigh is probably not a yes. Some noises and gestures we make are not relevant to a conversation or any part of communication in a normal daily routine, while that same noise or gesture can be used to portray a feeling or response without even having to use words. For another example, take a cough. A cough is not used to portray a feeling or used for a means of communication. Benedict says that this is why we have to draw a line between normality and abnormality, so that we as a culture can understand simple conversations, what people are trying to communicate, and be able to respond correctly, or not at all.
Benedict states in her argument “In so far as a civilization is well integrated and consistent within itself, it will tend to carry farther and farther, according to its nature, its initial impulse toward a particular type of action, and from the point