Ethical Relativism : A Multicultural Society

Loretta Kopelman’s dissertation, Female Genital Circumcision and Conventionalists Ethical Relativism, takes a new approach in a global plight. Kopelman begins her thesis by elaborating on a particular tribe in southern Kenya. She describes how young girls are being mutilated for marriageability. Their fathers, eager for large dowries, perform the ritual on girls as young as nine. While some victims are able to escape and seek sanctuary, this obviously isn’t always possible and thus these girls must live with an inflicted deformity their whole life that doesn’t only cause serious health complications but sometimes even death.

In American society, there are multiple cultures and races exist. Since immigrants bring the various cultures to America, Americans face a highly controversial problem. Some of the Americans believe all of the ethnic groups assimilate into a common culture can help Americans distinctly identify themselves. Others argue that ethnic groups should not abandon their cultural heritages background. As a result, merging different cultures into one new culture will cause America lose its cultural diversity which is one significant charm of this country. On the contrary, if every ethnic group only focuses on building their own community and resists communicate with others, it will aggravate the separation of a nation. Although people often argue about these two ways which one is more appropriate to Americans, I think Richard Rodriguez's idea is more realistic in nowadays American society. Rodriguez resists the idea of the melting pot, and believes that assimilation is inevitable and reciprocal. In the essay Does America Still Exist?, Rodriguez explains his thought to us through his experiences.

The United States has been the land of opportunity for immigrants. It is a place where immigrants from all over the world come to build a better dream and future for their families and leave from poverty, they come with nothing but determination. One thing that every immigrant brings with them is their culture. A person's culture is strongly tied to the country where they grew up. It is tied to their relationship with their family. Many people come to America from so many different places all over the world. For this reason, people call America a melting pot of cultures immigrants are striving for a better future even though when they migrate to the USA they don’t know the consequences they will face and struggle to be successful living in the United States.

The Author Marable defines “multiculturalism” as “the recognition that our nation’s cultural heritage that does not begin and end with the intellectual and aesthetic products of Western Europe, rather multiculturalism rejects the model of cultural assimilation and social conformity.” However, Multiculturalism is often been misinterpreted, Marable according to him said that, the “melting pot” never existed.

The thesis of meta-ethical cultural relativism is the philosophical viewpoint that there are no absolute moral truths, only truths relative to the cultural context in which they exist. From this it is therefore presumed that what one society considers to be morally right, another society may consider to be morally wrong, therefore, moral right's and wrongs are only relative to a particular society. Thus cultural relativism implies that what is 'good' is what is 'socially approved' in a given culture. Two arguments in favour of cultural relativism are the 'Cultural Differences argument' and the 'Argument from the virtue of tolerance', the following essay will look at and evaluate both of these

Even though there are set values that are universally known to the public, people do not always follow those values within their groups. However, these people have to act in conformity and abide by the values in public. Although everyone assumes that “imagined communities” contain a common culture, in reality, they really do not due to the fact that there are many body of ideas and practices that are not shared. Many languages are spoken and countless number of religions are practiced in various countries, so these make the “common culture” idea a misconception among citizens of different countries. For example, people tend to think that America consists of culture that is common, but they do not know if the beliefs, values, and practices are universally shared by all Americans. Nonetheless, there was a time when a dominant culture in the United States actually existed. It was during when the religion of Christianity was prominent and when many countries in Europe spoke the English language. It should be known that black Americans, Chinese-Americans, and white Americans have a common culture because of everything they do and do not share. From the common culture would arise the social identity, which can cause problems in diversity. Diversity can be an issue because of the ignorance of all the contrasting values. These issues arise because racial and ethnic identities are compared to one another and both can also relate to genders and sexualities. Nevermore, distinct genders and sexualities often live together now with the same knowledge and values and can still grow into opposite racial identities. Ethnic identities are so different since they are created in family and community life and people want the solidarity from being unique to one

The increasing accommodations directed toward immigrant culture worries many Americans. Americans fear the special treatment granted to immigrants will affect the unifying force of the country. Today, the trend is toward multiculturalism, diversity and adapting the newcomer, rather than on the newcomer adapting himself or herself to a diverse society (61).

Multiculturalism phenomenon is inherent in human society since the man known commodity exchange, private property and the state. The cultural, ethnic and religious distinctions imposed by any of the distinctions in the political visions and attitudes are distinctions inherent to the nature of human society itself. Multiculturalism approve to the world of diverse and different, and became one of contemporary life mechanism constants, and how to deal and interact with them would lead one way or another, to develop self-ownership, respect, tolerance, and flexibility in our dialogue and coexistence with the other. In multiculturalism is noticed the differences in cultural identities, economic programs, religious beliefs, ethnic communities, and political systems etc... It is no longer a sufficient diagnosis of multiculturalism, but rather how to practically embody as a reality presently, as it was in the past and will be in the future. Differences or multiculturalism doesn 't mean signs of failure, error indications, or inability to reach the same answer, as some believe. The

Cultural Relativism is an important ethical theory and James Rachels’ argument is significant to provide evidence to prove and disprove the idea. It is important to call attention to and understand differences between cultures. Tolerance is also an valid concept when arguing Cultural Relativism. Regardless of the outcome or viewpoint of the argument it is significant in the fact that it raises awareness for tolerance and differences between cultures and that no culture is more superior or more correct in relation to another. The theory of Cultural Relativism is the idea that each and every culture has it’s own moral code, and if this is true, there is no universal, ethical truth that every culture must abide by. A universal truth being one that is true in all situations, at all times, and in all places. It proposes that a person’s actions should be understood and judged only by those within the terms of their culture. It is an idea of tolerance and open mindedness to cultures who are not our own. In the article, The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, James Rachels discusses important themes and arguments in concurrence with his own argument against Cultural Relativism. I will argue that Cultural Relativism is challenged by James Rachels argument but not disproved.

Philosophy has many different topics that are debatable and have been argued throughout its long history. Cultural relativism is a very interesting and controversial topic in the philosophical/ religious world. To further understand cultural relativism one must first learn the definition. Cultural relativism is the view that Different cultures have different moral codes and values, therefore culture is subjective and arbitrary. When given a closer look at cultural relativism we come to the conclusion that it is not as plausible as it first appears and that certain moral values are needed in creating a sustainable and thriving society (57).In This paper I will begin with a short analyst briefly stating the beliefs of a cultural relativist, explaining their values and examining their views on cultural morals and codes. Then moving on to analyzing the Argument of cultural differences which discusses the view that there is no universal “right” or “wrong” when examining cultures moral views; a cultures morals and values are simply a matter of opinion. Lastly I will confirm that every culture has a diminutive amount moral views and values.

Each person has their own beliefs but they still respect the idea that other people’s views can differ from theirs. Cultures are better preserved with this principle of moral relativism and the root of each culture is everlasting. Since there are no wrong beliefs, each culture can have practices without being criticized for how they act. Moral relativism allows individuals to be diverse in their beliefs and to further express what they believe to be right and wrong.

Religious cults choices and actions differ from mainstream society.Religious cult promotes a religious belief system. Also, some cults are Secular, and they promote quasi-scientific or quasi-psychological principle. There are others cults that promote both religious, and secular belief systems.Most cults have a utopian belief system. They do things together. They belief in all things in common. One part of the spectrum have the established mainstream belief system part of the cult. The middle part has a secular humanist belief system. These are the non conformist and fashionable fad. At the end of the spectrum are the exclusive coteries. These are characterize by their belief and they look down on the mainstream values and culture. (ex-cult)

Moral Relativism has achieved a great position in the modern world and has also received a lot of criticism. The reason behind the criticism is that Moral relativism is now being widely used by the society as a way of thinking. Due to such a wide perception of Moral Relativism in the community, the default view of Morality held by a large part of the community is in the form of Moral Relativism. One of the main reasons for facing criticism is that the view of Moral Relativism is thought by many of the young individuals to have destructive consequences. Moral Relativism is providing the freedom to set one’s own morals which will be relative to one’s own norms and policies. If someone uses the freedom in an incorrect form by setting the norms

Cultural and ethical relativisms are widely used theories that explain differences among cultures and their ethics and morals. Morality deals with individual character and the moral rules that are meant to govern and limit one’s character. On the other hand Ethics is somewhat interchangeable with morals, but it actually defines the principles of right conduct, thus to some extent, enlarging its scope to a societal or communal level. Ideally, ethics play a vital role in determining the dos and don’ts when dealing with the society. This essay will discuss what ethical realism is, analyzing why ethical relativism is unsound and unreliable in relation to the relevant evidence and literature, providing valid reason to ascertain why this is the case.

Ethical Relativism What is right and wrong is a widely opinionated discrepancy among the human race. It varies between cultures, societies, religion, traditions, and endless influential factors. Ethical relativism is described by John Ladd as the “doctrine that the moral rightness and wrongness of actions varies from society and that there are no absolute universal moral standards binding on all men at all times. Accordingly, it holds that whether or not it is right for an individual to act in a certain way depends on or is relative to the society to which he belongs”(Pojman, 24).