ARE

VA L U E S
C U LT U R A L BASED ON
R E L AT I V I S M
C U LT U R E ?
 L E A R N I N G
O B J E C T I V E S

• U N D E R S TA N D T H E C L A I M O F
C U LT U R A L R E L AT I V I S M ( C R )
• D I S C U S S T H E A R G U M E N T S I N FAV O R
OF (CR)
• DISCUSS THE COUNTER-ARGUMENTS
AGAINST (CR)
• SYNTHESIZE THE ARGUMENTS
 Cultural Relativism holds that the norms of a culture
reign supreme within the bounds of the culture itself.

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

 Different societies have different moral codes.

Cultural Relativism (CR)

The moral code of a society determines what is right
IF (x) is socially approved, THEN within that society.
(x) is morally good.
There is no objective standard that can be used to
Different societies have different judge one society’s code as better than another’s.
moral codes. Standard of “right”
and “wrong” is culture-bound. (CR)
The moral code of our own society has no special
Challenges both our claim to the
status; it is but one among many.
objectivity and universality of
moral truth.
It is arrogant for us to judge other cultures. We
should always be tolerant of them.

See (pp. 16-17)

 THE CULTURAL
Examining a DIFFERENCE ARGUMENT
(CR’s) Line of
Thinking • (CR’s) begin with facts about cultures
and end up drawing a conclusion about
morality.
 OR

(1) The Eskimos saw nothing wrong with

infanticide, whereas Americans
Examining a believe infanticide is immoral.
(CR’s) Line of
Thinking (2) Therefore, infanticide is neither
objectively right nor objectively
wrong. It is merely a matter of
opinion, which varies from culture to
culture.
Is the argument of (CR) Valid?
Consider this . . .
In some societies, people believe
the earth is flat. In other societies,
such as our own, people believe
that the earth is a sphere.

Does it follow, from the mere fact

that people disagree, that there is
no “objective truth” in geography?
 • We could no longer say that the customs of
other societies are morally inferior to our
own.
What Follows
from (CR)? BUT … this also suggest that we would also be
barred from criticizing other practices embedded
in the culture of other societies that may be
viewed as inhumane.

COUNTER-ARGUMENT #1
That means we cannot
criticize/condemn this …

A Jewish woman being

bullied and beaten by
kids who conform to the
State-sponsored racism
of the Nazis (1941).
That means we cannot
criticize/condemn this …

An acid-attack victim.
That means we
cannot
criticize/condemn
this …
Tiananmen Square Massacre in
Beijing, China (1989)
 • We could no longer criticize
the code of our own society.
What Follows
from (CR)? This prevents us from criticizing our own society’s
code or cultural practices and understanding. Thus,
it prevents us from seeing other cultures that are
better than our ways; and it does not enable us to
improve our understanding and practices.
 • The idea of moral progress is
called into doubt.
What Follows Progress means replacing the old ways with
new and improved ways – both in practice
from (CR)? and understanding. (CR) is problematic for
blind conformity to status quo ideas and
practices found would disable any form of
social reform.
COUNTER-ARGUMENT #2
Change in perspective means …
Change in
perspective
means …
 (CR) use the “Cultural
Difference” argument

Counter- QUESTION : Is there really a difference?

In what way are cultures different?
Argument #3

RESPONSE : We cannot conclude (with logical

necessity) that just because two societies differ
in their custom (belief system), it will follow that
they have different values (value system).

See (p. 21)

 Case in point . . .
Consider a culture in which people believe it is
wrong to eat cows. This may even be a poor culture,
in which there is not enough food; still, the cows are
not to be touched. Such a society would appear to
have values very different from our own. But does it?
We have not yet asked why these people won’t eat
cows.
Suppose they believe that after death the souls of
humans inhabit the bodies of animals, especially
cows, so that a cow maybe someone’s grandmother.
Shall we say that their values differ from ours? No;
the difference lies elsewhere. The difference is in our
belief systems, not in our value systems. (p. 21)
 Counter-argument #4
• Some Values are shared by All Cultures
There are some moral rules that all
societies must embrace, because those
rules are necessary for society to exist.
Cultures may differ in what they regard
as legitimate exceptions to the rules,
but this disagreement exists against a
broad background of agreement.
Therefore, we shouldn’t overestimate
the extent to which cultures differ. Not
every moral rule can vary from society
to society. (pp. 23-24)
 First, there is an understandable nervousness about
Why do interfering in the social customs of other peoples.
Europeans have a history of colonialism where
Thoughtful atrocities have been made to non-Europeans.

People may
Second, people may feel, rightly enough, that we
be Reluctant should be tolerant of other cultures.

to Criticize
other Finally, people may be reluctant to judge because
they do not want to express contempt for the
Cultures? society being criticized.

(p. 26)
Conclusion:
What can we Learn from (CR)?

The danger of assuming that all our practices are

based on some absolute rational standard.

Keeping an open mind and a fuller perspective on things. We

can see that our feelings are not necessarily perceptions of the
truth—they may be due to cultural conditioning and nothing
more.
It is an attractive theory because it is based on a genuine insight
– that many of the practices and attitudes we find natural are
byproducts of culture. Moreover, keeping this thought in mind is
important if we want to avoid arrogance and remain open to
new ideas.
 Source/s:
Gensler, Harry. 2011. Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction. New
York: Routledge.
Rachels, James, and Rachels, Stuart. 2007. The elements of moral
philosophy. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Further Readings:
http://lti-blog.blogspot.com/2018/02/cultural-relativism-makes-social.html

https://blog.politicsmeanspolitics.com/thoughts-on-cultural-relativism-3b73986f81fb

https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/23/moral-dispute-or-cultural-difference/