Relativism And Culture

“Different cultures have different moral codes”, James Rachels discusses in his article Why Morality Is Not Relative? (160). Moral codes differ from culture to culture and each culture tends to have their own individual standards. Cultural relativism is said to be “moral rules differ from society to society” (18). Cultural relativism can be looked at as a theory based on nature of morality. Each culture has their own moral codes, typically created by their ancestors. The moral codes claim what is “right” and what is “wrong”. When it comes to cultural relativism, there is no universal truth, however, it does have a cultural code. There are six main points about the topic cultural relativism that may help an individual understand how cultural relativism plays a role into a …show more content…
Each society has their own code, therefore “there is no objective standard that can be used to judge one society’s code better than another” (161). When it comes to moral codes in a society, these codes do not take president outside of their specific society. Ethics is usually defined as the “branch of philosophy that deals with how we ought to live with the idea of the good, and with concepts such as “right” and “wrong” (1). Within ethics there is said to be no “universal truth”, because each society moral codes varies. Individuals should not judge others moral codes because they are different. Individuals should attempt to tolerate other cultural practices. This would lead to more peace and less hate. There are arguments against cultural relativism because each society has a different moral code leas there to be no objective “truth”. Based on what societal group an individual is involved in would be base on what is “right” and what is “wrong” is based on the cultures opinion. Individuals tend to not agree with some cultures opinion of what is “right” and