Moral Relativism And The Korowai Tribe From New Guinea

What is the concept of relativist morality:

Moral relativism is an opposing perspective from the objective ways of a moral absolutist such as Plato , whose moral standards are fixed regardless of the context. The whole concept of absolutism is universal and deontological; therefore it is unchanging. Whereas Moral relativism is teleological: the outcome of the action is not taken into consideration, meaning that moral relativism possesses moral truth that is dependent on place, culture, time and religion. Furthermore it is subjective in a way that our overall conclusion of an ethical situation is based on what we feel is the most suitable moral judgement. Relativism indicates that there is no one true morality, there should not be one solution
to every moral problem, and that we should be considerate of the context as well. Theoretically if an individual believes that abortion is moral while the rest believe it’s immoral, that individual’s morality cannot be questioned due to the fact that their reasoning is equivalent to the others’ nonetheless. Abortion can be considered moral if the victim was raped and forced to commit incest, however the situation varies if it was an older woman that forgot to use contraception or had faulty resources, because the woman should know the consequences to irresponsible sex.
For example, cultural relativism is solely based on subjective moral codes that are socially approved, what is considered right and wrong in their culture may differ from another culture’s.
The Korowai Tribe from New Guinea permits cannibalism in their culture as a ritual to protect the tribe from the Khakhua (a demon), and this is considered a cultural norm among the tribe. Cultural relativism emphasises that cultures should be respected of their rights and should be viewed upon with a neutral perspective. Conventionalism applies strongly to cultural relativism as it is important that we follow the moral code of our society, because that is how we were brought up to
be.

Protagoras, a Greek philosopher that claimed that: ‘the human being is the measure of all things, of those that are, that they are, and of those that are not, that they are not.’ According to Protagoras, intellect solely depends on subjectivism in which the truth is only the truth based on our own perceptions of moral decision. He believes that it all depends on the individual, there is no right or wrong answer in terms of moral decisions because everyone’s perception is different. For example another way of rephrasing Protagoras would be: If the world to me is perfect, that’s how the world seems to me, and therefore that is how it is. If you have a different perception of the world, that is how the world looks, and that is how it is, to you.

Therefore everyone’s perception towards what is essentially right or wrong is not absolute. This reinforces everyone to be accepting of other people’s moral beliefs and behaviour, that they should not be restricted to their own beliefs and behaviour due to the fact that their views differ from another. Relativism concentrates on the righteousness or wrongness of an act in a situation, in order to assess whether the act had good intentions despite how moral or immoral the outcome may be. In contrast to absolutism where actions are either intrinsically right or wrong and solely objective.

The limitations to absolutism is that the situation or the overall outcome of the situation, it may also seem that moral absolutists tend to disregard cultural differences and the fact that their upbringing differs from theirs. In addition, this also applies to different life styles. Usually marriage only consists of a bride and a groom however in certain areas of the world such as Sudan, polygamy is encouraged in order to increase its population. As polygamy goes against one of the absolutist’s Decalogue which is ‘You shall not commit adultery’ Polygamy would be considered wholly immoral, showing that moral absolutists disregard of the context in which these ethical issues occur. Polygamy may be beneficial for the country however it could be argued that women are treated badly and are encouraged to submit to their husbands, due to the gender superiority men have in such countries.
Moral relativism is teleological, in other words it emphasises the significance of an action’s outcomes, and it produces a visible difference of what is morally right or wrong a situation.
Relativism does not completely follow after moral rules, the rules are altered in a way which is flexible in contrast to an absolutist’s rules. For example the Decalogue states: ‘You shall not murder’ In terms of the euthanasia, this goes against an absolutist’s moral rules however, when it comes to a relativist’s perceptive they are able to adapt to certain situations. The situation is significantly different when it comes to murdering for the sake of committing crime and relieving a loved one from pain and suffering by intentional death. The morality of these situations are significantly different as well as the intentions behind
them.

Overall moral relativism is based on the teleological theory, it focuses on place, culture time and religion. This ethical approach enables us to express our views, and moral values. It encourages us to look past at moral situations at face value, and enables our morality to not be questioned. Although most religions that remain absolutist such as theists disregard moral relativism due to the fact that they strongly follow the Decalogue and that it is universal. We learn through moral relativism that what is morally true for an individual may not be morally acceptable for another.