Challenge of Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism is understanding other cultures and not making a judgment based on

one's own culture. Rachels et al. explained that "different societies have different moral codes"

(p. 16) and, there must be no objective standard that will be used to make a judgment of one's

society. It is only within a specific society; the moral code can be identified what is right

according to that society.

The Philippines generally has a uniform Filipino culture when it comes to other countries

and, if we look inside the country, there are also sub-cultural differences. Cultural relativism can

be seen in this democratic country as everyone with ages more than 18 can vote for their

candidate during elections regardless of culture. We can express our thoughts but that does not

mean we can belittle others. When we examine other countries being able to fight off the

COVID-19 virus effectively while our country is focusing on other matters and not on the

pandemic. It is not because we are arrogant for making a judgment against our government, but

because we see something wrong. As said by Rachels et al. "...it always matters whether a

practice promotes or hinders the welfare of the people affected by it" (p. 28) and, we can already

see the effect of their practice, it requires moral improvement. Meanwhile, Filipinos are making

a judgment against other cultures when eating exotic foods which is a rumor that the COVID-19

virus came from a Chinese man eating a bat. The root of this problem is misinformation and not

fact-checking. We tend to make a judgment first before understanding and tolerating other

cultures. Since the customs here in the Philippines are mostly based on conventional standards

that we are easy to lose sight of the truth.

 REFERENCE

Rachels, S., & Rachels, J. (2019). Cultural Relativism. In The elements of moral philosophy (7th

ed.). essay, McGraw-Hill Education.