Monday, February 4, 2013

Fact or Fiction: A Critique of Cultural Relativism

Fact or Fiction: A Critique of Cultural Relativism
By Lee Renshaw
Does an absolute truth exist in the world of ethics?  Harry Gensler attempts to express his view on this question and the question of the questionable implications of cultural relativism (CR).  While, in his essay, Gensler concedes that the idea of CR is a tempting one since it seems to cover the conflicts between different societies and allows for multicultural tolerance, he calls attention to its serious flaws (198).  He writes about four significant points in his critique, a main one of which is that the social norm is always correct in that given society.  However, how does one respond when his cultural norm is something believed by most of the rest of the world to be "bad", like racism?  It is an interesting theory in that it could make it possible to absolve many racists and criminals of guilt in any "bad" actions they have done.  If it is accepted as "good" in their respective societies, one cannot fault them ethically for their deeds.  


There are many different societies that all have some conflicting norms.  Although CR attempts to answer of morality and how it should vary depending on which culture one lives in, it does not assist us in times when separate social norms collide.  I like the fact that Gensler uses the example of a person from a society as extreme as a Nazi country (201).  This provides an excellent story for how flawed CR can be in the worst possible given situation.  

I personally love the idea that "so long as society can make moral mistakes, then its approval is not enough to show that something is morally good" (198), but I wish that Gensler would expand more on this idea and provide an example to express it even further.  This notion is one that seems obvious but that is rarely acknowledged.  An imperfect society can't perfectly judge the correctness of a person's actions.  

1 comment:

  1. I too agree with Lee on this topic. One of the things that sticks out the most for me when thinking about this topic is considering the rural tribes and groups in Africa and how different their lives are. For example, there is a tribe that I learned about last semester that lives in central Africa, and they believe that any set of twins born is evil. As soon as both kids are born, they are immediately thrown into the woods because they are considered a bad omen. This is especially difficult for me to understand because I myself am a twin and would have been cast aside like so many of those kids. Relating back to the CR, in our society casting aside those kids would be completely unethical and unlawful, but whose to say that over in Africa they see it the same way?

    It is also interesting to consider the joining of two societies within one family. Having two different religious backgrounds is a difficult and awkward situation to overcome in the beginning of a relationship and it directly relates to how both groups have completely different moral and ethical beliefs.

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