Is Cultural Relativism Morally Wrong?

Improved Essays
The second consequence is the loss of accountability for the actions within a society itself. The morality of an action would be solely based on the standards of the society, not based on human rights or a universal social contract. The issue therein is that there is also nothing to keep the society morally sound. If murdering a blonde abides by the moral code within the society, then the act of murder itself in that society is not morally wrong. Rachels posits the argument that if Cultural Relativism restricts one from the criticizing the actions of/in other countries, then it can also forbid one from criticizing one’s own. This theory implies that morality itself would crumble and chaos would ensue. However, out of fear and a goal of survival,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    It brings a large variety of moral codes/customs into question. The relativist concludes that because there is such a large variety, that there cannot be any universal morality. An absolutist would argue that it is the ignorance of what the absolute moral standard is. Because both these ideas are equally plausible, the the argument is a very weak one. The second argument is the one of command.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In recent discussions of culture appropriation, a controversial issue has been whether is it morally wrong to change our point of view on our culture. On the one hand, some argue that it is one’s choice to change what they want do and believe in when they want to. On the other hand, however, others argue that it is morally wrong to change something like their culture so quickly. In sum, then, the issue is whether it is accepted by society for changing one’s culture perspective so suddenly. Americans today tend to change their culture perspective so suddenly that it is see that it is okay.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Do The Right Thing” by Spike Lee is a film produced in a lower class neighborhood in Brooklyn,New York. The film is about the struggle and criticism people of color face in their every day life as they try to survive. The film also proves that people of color who makes it out the ghetto have to choose between class at a certain point of time. The sociological concepts I choose to apply to this film is Cultural Relativism, Discrimination, Gender Inequality, Race, and double consciousness. Cultural Relativism…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moral relativism- The idea of moral relativism is one that morality is relevant to your situation, and that you should be accepting other people's morals and cultures. Moral relativism can first be seen in the colonies, mainly by the quakers in pennsylvania, and quakers were also vehemently against slavery, which was another morally relativistic idea. Moral absolutism- The idea that there is a clear right and wrong and that right and wrong is the same for every situation, and the idea has had many impacts on historical events in us history.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In any moral theory debate, the arguments as to what justifies an action as right or wrong presents divergent understandings on the ground of moral philosophy. Thus, when examining a certain action, one person might consider it deeply morally wrong while another person would perceive it as completely acceptable. With such a controversial case, one would wonder which response would be most correct? Is there a distinct right answer to this situation?…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1a. Cultural relativism is the view that no culture is superior to any other culture when comparing systems of morality, law, politics, etc. (AllAboutPhilosophy.org, n.d.) It does not offer a universal right and wrong, but rather offers the notion of morals based on the cultural environment. This diverges from the traditional ethical theories of doing what is right and adopts the ethical theories that are the “lay of the land” as they relate to the local culture in which the dilemma takes place.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    James Rachels: 1: Moral relativism is the perspective that ethical benchmarks, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based and in this way subject to a man's individual decision. We can all choose what is right for ourselves. Moral Relativists call attention to that humans are not omniscient, and history is loaded with samples of people and societies acting for the sake of a trustworthy truth later exhibited to be more than error prone, so we ought to be extremely careful about constructing vital ethical decisions in light of a gathered supreme case. Absolutes additionally have a tendency to hinder experimentation and abandon conceivable fields of request which may prompt advance in numerous fields, and smothering the human…

    • 1621 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Debora Netcliff Professor Stanley English 100 19 October 2017 A Defense Of Moral Relativism Ethical relativism or Moral relativism is the proposition that what is considered moral or immoral or what is wrong or right depends on culture norms, and what behaviors is accepted in different societies in which a decision is made. Also what can be deemed as immoral or moral, bad may be good and ethical in another's society Many cultures differ in their moral practices. These moral and ethical decisions are also based off of inner judgments.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Opponents of relativism argue that if relativism were to be adopted, we would not be able to say the actions of another society is bad . Furthermore, if relativism were to be adopted, our belief of moral progress would…

    • 1327 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Why Is Relativism Wrong

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages

    belonging to the same country and culture changed their judgments on specific topics over the years. One of the examples could be the witch-haunt: girls labelled as witches were burnt alive or were victims of other punishments or tortures because they were considered dangerous, linked to the Devil and phenomenon os mass-hysteria arose around them. This process was considered right, since dangerous people were killed to restore the order (it was also supported and encouraged by the Church, so it appeared also more obvious that witch-hunt was right). Nowadays, in Europe (since in almost every European region witch-hunt took place) it is considered an incredibly shameful process, that put to death many innocent people. An essentially wrong action.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moral relativism is a view that moral or ethical standards are different for each person and that no one’s opinion of right and wrong is better than another. Moral relativism is said to be “the view that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based and therefore subject to a person's individual choice” (moral-relativism.com). What is right for them is what they believe to be ethical. Since moral relativism is culturally based, different cultures will have different ideas of what is ethical by their environment and standards. “These are all based on the idea that there is no ultimate standard of good or evil, so every judgment about right and wrong is purely a product of a person’s preferences and environment” (allaboutphilosophy.org).…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moral Relativism Essay

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    One of the first major problem that moral relativism poses for ethics would be that people could abuse it and use it as an excuse for some of the decisions that they make. Perhaps, they are doing something that is seen as immortal to majority of cultures, but they claim that it is moral because they have seen in other cultures that it is morally accepted because it fits the beliefs and or customs that a certain may have. Another issue that may pose a problem for ethics would be that moral relativism leads to absurd conclusion, and changes our ability to deliberate straight and make certain opinions about moral or ethical issues. If there is absolutely no moral law than there is no foundation for…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While acknowledging Cultural relativism which is the theory of a non existing moral truthness, he states that it is inherently false. His article states that there is a moral standard and it is necessary for self improvement. When looked at, Rachel's article exercises almost the same beliefs and should be considered when…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cultural relativism may be defined as a theory that advocates the idea of subjective morality. To extrapolate, this theory entails that “different cultures have differing moral codes” and these variances are merely arbitrary. Although this is a seemingly sufficient theory, there are key issues with this school of thought. James Rachels suggests several issues with accepting cultural relativism. He criticizes cultural relativism by stating that the theory is absurd as it entails severe consequences if practiced.…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In fact, society needs moral standards as it needs language. Actually, no moral system is better than another, just as there is no possible method to know which of many languages is better. But, also, within any given language there are grammatical and spelling rules. This is why we can say that morality is the social, grammatical, and spelling rules that permit a group of people to get along with each other within the same group. However, this leads to another drawback of cultural relativism.…

    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays