Uy, Jonas Angelo A.

BS Customs Administration
CULTURAL RELATIVISM: THE CHALLENGE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN
THE ELEMENTS OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY
First, what is Morality? Morality is a a topic of reason consulting. In any case, the morally correct
thing to do is to do whatever the right reasons are. According to Rachels, explanations are referred
to as things. But why is it the case? Is there something we can find that already exists without us?
Are there moral reasons as opposed to other types of motives? The arguments we have looked at
are meant to provide justifications for choosing one course of action over another. How can we
select the statements that genuinely provide us with the finest reasons, or the best explanations?
In his contemporary masterpiece, the philosopher James Rachels presented a thorough critique and
investigation of cultural relativism. One of the professor's main arguments is that the cultural gap
assertion, which he refers to as the foundation of cultural relativism, is erroneous. Using the
perspective of cultural relativism helps to the idea that no one culture is superior to another culture,
in contrast to systems of morals, law, politics, etc. It is a belief that cultural norms and values
receive their significance from a specific social setting.
The standards you're used to are neither correct nor incorrect . When a person from a foreign nation
performs something that is part of their tradition or culture but is unfamiliar to you, it doesn't
necessarily mean that they are acting strangely or impolitely. However, there are still limits to
cultural relativism; some of these include justice, liberty, and civil rights. People are educated to
respect other people's cultures and traditions, yet when cultural conventions or behaviors
transgress justice or human rights, they may face legal repercussions.
Cultural relativism makes the following three claims: 1) Different cultures have different moral
codes; 2) These codes determine what is right within a given society (if the code says it is right
when the action is just within that society); 3) There is no objective standard that can be used to
judge one society's code as superior to another.
To sum it up, cultural relativism's strength is that it promotes greater diversity and recognition of
ethical differences while lowering the risk of imperialism. The disadvantage of cultural relativism
is its propensity for quietism, which can erode safeguards for human rights. As a result, ethicists
argue that the idea of cultural relativism undermines ethical discipline because, if values are
subjective to a specific culture, there are no universal moral absolutes against which people's acts
may be assessed. This leads us to believe that moral advancement is not possible since relativism
denies the existence of moral advancement. There must be a BETTER change for improvement to
occur. But for something to improve, there must be a rule that is followed more rigorously over
time.