Ethnocentrism is an important topic for modern anthropology for many reasons. Firstly‚ we must understand that ethnocentrism is the incorrect belief that ones own group is in some way superior to others‚ and the standard by which others are judged. This belief has unfortunately been an important factor in the history of the human race. It has been in existence forever‚ and therefore is very pertinent to the field of cultural anthropology. Secondly‚ ethnocentrism has been the cause of many wars
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Ethnocentrism in Anthropological perspective - Avatar Using highly advanced technology to replicate and to creating false bodies which humans use to walk amongst the natives known as the Na’vi living in the planet Pandora hence the name ‘Avatar’. The story focuses on an ex U.S. soldier name Jake Sully who is wheel-chair bound‚ was called upon as a last resort to replace his late brother whom had trained for 3 years in a project which was invested with so much money that the researchers could not
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Gensler’s reasoning against cultural relativism(CR) is that the existence of so many subgroups makes it impossible to be correct. The fact that so many subcultures have so many varying morals means that nothing in thought can be morally wrong and therefore nothing is objective. Gensler uses the example “My Nazi society approves of racism‚ so racism is good” ( page 187) this shows the effectivity of this ethical theory. Gensler’s reasoning is supported by Enochs “Why I Am an Objectivist about Ethics
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Ethical Relativism: the Hands-off Theory Ethical relativism is a simple concept. It is defined as the idea that ethical values are relative to the culture in which they are found. As exemplified in Hinman’s Ethics‚ a businessman in different parts of the world may use a bribe in order to reach an agreement with an associate‚ whereas in America‚ bribes are frowned upon and often illegal. The ethical value‚ bribing‚ is used differently between an American and a foreign businessman. But is there
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Moral Relativism: An Evaluation The world is becoming an increasingly smaller place‚ culturally speaking. The modern world has more bridges to other cultures and ways of thinking than ever before. This phenomenon is due largely to the advent of the internet‚ global industry‚ and increased travel for business and pleasure to opposite corners of the world. This “global village” we live in introduces the average person to more cultural‚ and seemingly moral‚ differences than previous generations
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Ethical relativism is an idea that our ethical values aren’t set in stone. They are determined by who we are‚ where we live‚ what century we were born in‚ or what part of the world we are located. Certainly‚ those people who live now in the year 2009 would not agree with the practices of slavery that were widely used in the 1800’s. Even more than in the past‚ we can we see this across the map. In Africa‚ slaves are still used for hard labor and paid small if any wages at all. Although‚ the United
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Though the Inca and Mayan empires existed at different times in history‚ they have a few things in common. Like other societies throughout history though‚ they have many things that set them apart from each other. The biggest similarity they share is that they both had control of massive empires that eventually ceased to exist. To start off with‚ the Mayans existed earlier in history than the Incas. The Mayans existed from 1000 BC to AD 1697 and no one is quite certain what wiped out their ancient
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Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary clearly defines ethnocentrism as the “characterization by or based on the attitude that one’s own group is superior.” To address the deeper issues associated to ethnocentrism requires a more explicit definition. In this sense‚ ethnocentrism can be defined as the making of false assumptions regarding others’ ways based on our own limited experience. The key word is assumptions‚ because oftentimes we are not even aware that we are being ethnocentric -- we don’t understand
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July 2‚ 2010 Ethics Reaction Paper 1 Relativism and Universalism The battle between relativism and universalism ideologies has been going on for several years now. There have been many highly respected people agreeing and disagreeing on which belief is right and wrong. The two well known are American Anthropologist Ruth Benedict and Dr. Louis Pojman. Upon reading their work‚ I found both of them to have very excellent points. I found myself hard to just pick one ideology. After
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“The strengths of cultural and ethical relativism outweigh their weaknesses” - discuss. Cultural relativism is the concept that what is right or wrong varies according to the beliefs of each culture. Within different cultures we may observe that what we believe is morally wrong‚ they see as a normal thing‚ such as how many muslims believe that chopping off the hand is the correct punishment for stealing‚ where as in my culture this would be seen as simply barbaric. Because there are so many different
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