Why Do We Have A Sense Of Cultural Relativism
If one comes across someone in distress or in need of help, most people would say that they would help out if they could, without question. However, when one comes face to face with real-life crisis-type situations, our reactions may not be as expected. Ethics are a complex set of ideas each individual possesses based on their moral codes. Ethics determine what is right, and what is wrong for an individual. However, we have adopted a sense of cultural relativism in that we don’t always feel the “right” thing is the ethical thing to do. Dr. Edward Younkins, Professor of Accountancy and Business Administration at Wheeling Jesuit University, states that this form of cultural relativism comes from, “...the mistaken idea that there are no objective
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As she walked from her car to her apartment building, she was followed by a man. She was being stabbed repeatedly and called for help, but onlookers still did not call the police. Although people could look out from their balconies and see what was unfolding, they did not take action. It wasn’t until almost thirty minutes after her attack that a neighbor finally called the police. When he was asked why he didn’t call earlier, he gave the answer that he, “didn’t want to get involved” (qtd. in Gansberg). This man, along with the thirty-seven others who were witnesses to the attack, would all say that they agree murder is ethically wrong. However, because of their social concept that getting involved is only acceptable when you are one hundred percent sure that what you’re seeing with your eyes or hearing with your ears is actually unfolding, they failed to get involved. Instead, they talked their way out of taking action such as one bystander stated, “we thought it was a lover’s quarrel”, while another stated the excuse that she,“didn’t want her husband to get involved” (qtd. in Gansberg). This goes to show that people often fail to get involved, even when their ethics would support it, due to social stigma of calling a situation out
As she walked from her car to her apartment building, she was followed by a man. She was being stabbed repeatedly and called for help, but onlookers still did not call the police. Although people could look out from their balconies and see what was unfolding, they did not take action. It wasn’t until almost thirty minutes after her attack that a neighbor finally called the police. When he was asked why he didn’t call earlier, he gave the answer that he, “didn’t want to get involved” (qtd. in Gansberg). This man, along with the thirty-seven others who were witnesses to the attack, would all say that they agree murder is ethically wrong. However, because of their social concept that getting involved is only acceptable when you are one hundred percent sure that what you’re seeing with your eyes or hearing with your ears is actually unfolding, they failed to get involved. Instead, they talked their way out of taking action such as one bystander stated, “we thought it was a lover’s quarrel”, while another stated the excuse that she,“didn’t want her husband to get involved” (qtd. in Gansberg). This goes to show that people often fail to get involved, even when their ethics would support it, due to social stigma of calling a situation out