Cultural relativism holds that there is no universal morality that is common among all cultures. Specifically‚ in an article on cultural relativism James Rachels states the following characteristics of cultural relativism: 1) Different societies have different moral codes; 2) There is no objective standard that can be used to judge one societal code better than another; 3) The moral code of our own society has no special status; it is merely one among many; 4) There is no "universal truth" in
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Introduction Moral relativism is a moral or ethical proposition that does not reflect the objective and / or universal moral truths of the position‚ but rather requires the situation with respect to social‚ cultural‚ historical or personal circumstances. It does not deny the truth value or justification of moral statements (as a form of moral anti realism)‚ but it is certain of their relative form. A moral relativist pointed out that human beings are not omniscient‚ and history is full of personal
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Majority of people have rejected the theory of ethical relativism due to many reasons. A few claims that while the moral practices of societies may differ‚ the elemental of moral principles underlying these practices do not differ. For instance‚ in some societies they practice that if the parents reached a certain age‚ they were killed to reach afterlife and would live a better life if they reached it when they were physically active and vigorous. In our society‚ we would never practice that in our
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Ethical Relativism/Subjectivism 11/09/2006 08:05 AM Ethical Relativism/Subjectivism Subjective‚ inter-subjective‚ and objective claims: A claim or judgment is subjective if its truth depends on whether or not it conforms to the tastes‚ attitudes‚ and beliefs of the claimer (the person making the claim). o Example: “Anchovies taste yummy.” (a matter of taste) A claim or judgment is inter-subjective if its truth depends on whether or not it conforms to the beliefs‚ attitudes‚ and conventions
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Cultural Relativism: A Moral Fallacy Cultural Relativism is the theory that all belief’s are equally valid and that truth itself is relative‚ depending on the situation‚ environment and individual. Those who hold the belief of Cultural Relativist‚ hold that all beliefs are completely relative to the individual within a cultural identity. In this essay‚ I will show that cultural relativism is unreliable as an ethical theory by showing the irrationality of the arguments that support it. The
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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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Cultural Relativism This essay covers various aspects of cultural relativism and its argument to readers. Cultural relativism is a theory‚ which mainly concentrates on differences in values and moral beliefs of different people. To help explain the concept of cultural relativism I have used James Rachels argument. The main idea of cultural relativism is that "Different cultures have different moral codes" (Rachels 652). This means that there is no thing as universal truth ’‚ and what is right
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Nathan Whittingham Professor Mariana Philosophy 120 12 October 2014 The Fallacy of Cultural Relativism The diversity of beliefs and ways of life is a conspicuous phenomenon that occurs within the human race. For example‚ what Satanists find right and reasonable is damnable to Christians‚ and vice-versa. Additionally‚ the ancient Aztecs practiced human sacrifice for reasons that today‚ we find totally illogical. And just as we‚ in America‚ now look back upon our history regarding slavery with
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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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Understanding other cultures without making judgments about the way they do things or the way they understand and react to things is the basic concept of cultural relativity. The importance of this idea is demostrated by Richard B. Lee in his story about the Christmas feast with the !Kung. In this story Lee‚ a social anthropologist living with the tribe‚ experiences a misunderstanding that almost caused him to pack his belongings and leave the bushmen which were the subject of his study
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