Relativism

Have you ever imagined a world where everyone was treated equally? A world where cultures interact or learn from each other, instead assume false assumptions. Everyone has experimented with ethnocentrism. Many people may not recognize the problem; they may not realize that ethnocentrism occurs everywhere and every day. This may be happening during our daily lives or during political ways. Ethnocentrism is viewing one's culture as superior or as the standard. This term was coined ever since…

In You are What You Speak, Guy Deutscher (2010), the author, explained how the languages influence people’s aspect, thoughts, and a society (p.215). In other words, people can make assumptions about a society from its language. Thus, people can make assumptions about the mysterious tribe found by anthropologists by examining its linguistic characteristics. For example, linguistic anthropologists can name the mysterious tribe “Utoceaiso” from their assumptions about the tribe. The first part of…

Looking around the world there are some things that are different and some things that are the same. In this world, it is not possible to find two people that look the exact same. The authors of the two texts uphold and express the common belief that people are more alike that we are different, we need to celebrate our differences, and no one looks the same. A common belief that the authors of the two texts uphold and express is that people are more alike than we are different. In Maya Angelou’s…

The authors of the article “Forsaking All Others: The Norm of Monogamy,” center their discussion around the norms of monogamous and non-monogamous relationships. In this case, these norms do not refer to socially recognized social norms, but rather enforced standards. Throughout the article, the authors provide evidence to support their main overarching belief that by accepting monogamy as a norm, disvalue can in turn be the result. To do this this, they begin by defining what monogamy is and…

“I worship individuals for their highest possibilities as individuals, and I loathe humanity, for its failure to live up to these possibilities.” This quote from Ayn Rand, the author of Anthem, displays her philosophy of Objectivism; one must live for their own benefit, their own happiness. Despite this philosophy, the main character in Anthem, Equality 7-2521, does not live for his own self-fulfilment. In his world, rules and controls disallow anyone to be alone with their own thoughts, or to…

Both Hobbes’ and Locke have very different descriptions of what morality in the state of nature would be like. People could argue that in Hobbes’ description of the state of nature morality is not necessarily a concern. People do not do things based on right and wrong, they do what pleases them. While Locke argues that everyone is give, at birth, a set of natural rights and obligations. All though in some instances there state of nature could be described as the same, how people’s morality plays…

An Enemy of the People a) ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged’ is often a misquoted phrase these days. The judgment part is questioned often by people. In fact, people never focus much on the moral values they portray on their daily life but try to judge too often on the practices of others. In this strange world, making cross-cultural judgments based on moral values doesn’t have importance. When we talk about cultural aspects, people need to relate themselves to their own culture based on the…

Understanding Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner The Nacirema's rituals involving body manipulation can be seen as horrific and appaling. Horace Miner's article allows readers to read about the culture of the Nacirema, including intimate details about their rituals. The North American group of people have a developed economy, stone and potery in their homes, as well as some deeply disturbing practices. Believe it or not, the Nacirema are not that different from other societies we…

Before Rachels stated his stand regarding the cultural judgment of the “excision” he stated that we, all of the cultures should have at least some of our values or moral codes that each culture has in common. Rachels gives the example of Murder and lying to make his point that we all have some moral codes or virtues that are universal by stating “…there are some moral rules that all societies must have in common, because those rules are necessary for society to exist. The rules against lying…

The Mbuti Pygmies and the Naciremas: Their Differences and Similarities Anthropology, or rather, cultural anthropology has placed a great deal of focus knowing the culture, tradition and the social norm in many different societies. Since it gives the insight of others’ traditions, beliefs and what they perceive as normal. It is also important to acknowledge the similarities and differences between one and the next. A particular example is that of the Naciremas and the Mbuti Pygmies. As there…