In Ruth Benedicts' book "The Patterns of Culture", He describes the grieving habits of the Kwakiutl Indians that reside in the Pacific North West. When someone passes away in the tribe, the members affected by the tragedy grieve in a specific way. The tribe members take all their grievance in their hearts and convert it into anger, which leads them to lash out at anyone they please. This lashing out can go to the extreme of even killing people. It does not matter to the Kwakiutl tribe if the party chosen is guilty or not. The tribe feels that if they are hurting, innocent people should have to feel their pain as well. In "The patterns of Culture" the chief loses his niece and sister in an accident, so he has the need to take this grievance he feels and turns it into motivation for killing an innocent party of seven men and two children who were asleep that were a part of another tribe. At the end of the excerpt provided in this book in module two, it even says that everyone involved in the killings of innocent people felt good about themselves when they returned back to where they reside.
Following the definition provided in module two, the ethical view of moral relativism basically says that anything goes in a culture, there are no moral codes that need to be universal to all people. Ethical or moral relativism states that every culture has a different view of morality, and we as humans need to respect that. Going by this explanation of moral relativism, relativists
While his coworkers constructed his designs, what hobby did Bernini pursue? Answer Selected Answer: Correct Answer: Writing plays and designing stage sets Writing plays and designing stage sets
Moral Relativism is classified under any positions concerning the differences in moral judgments between people and the culture. Moral relativism is the position that ethical or moral propositions make claims regarding cultural or personal circumstances. Moral Relativism affirms relative form of validation of moral statements but doesn’t deny them. Moral relativist typically view the ethical standards of right or wrong are culturally based and are issued to a person's individual decision. Instead of making their decision on “what is right,” decisions are based on self-interest. This procedure has a negative impact on behavior and will affected the way we treat others.
Moral Relativism is defined as the belief that conflicting moral beliefs are true. This carries the impression that what you respect as a right behavior may be a right conduct for you, but not for me. Moral Relativism is an attempt to
The chapter discusses how human development is affected by the nature in which a person is born into. It discusses how worldviews regarding child 's development vary among different regions throughout the continents. The chapter goes into the similarities of cultures as well as the differences of how humans develop across the board in all areas of thought in different regions of the world. The author tries to link human development with cultural aspects of how problem solving occurs as far as cultural influences are concerned. The nature of human development may occur in a pattern with all types of cultures and background.
Ethical relativism is not just simply one concept. It can be divided into two categories cultural relativism and ethical subjectivism. Cultural relativism states that what a culture finds correct is what is correct, within its own realm. Ethical subjectivism are what people as individuals find correct, or the values a person stands for and what they support whereas culture relativism is has a certain standard of morality held within a culture or society. These both view people as being in charge of their own morality. However, there are some problems with the view ethical relativism itself. For instance marital rape, machismo in Hispanics culture and premarital sex. In this dissertation I will be discussing problems with ethical relativism, while using the examples above.
In philosophy there are many theories that philosophers argue, James Rachels argues the main points of moral relativism, where he describes the differences within cultures. Philosophers attempt to prove their theories to be true, but it can be complicated because if someone proves one premise false of your argument then the entire argument is invalid. There are different types of relativisms that favor moral relativism, such as, personal belief relativism, societal belief relativism, and then there is the cultural beliefs argument. All of these topics of relativism fall into the same category as moral relativism, meaning they all have the same general statement. Which is one cannot declare what is morally right or morally wrong. Moral relativism is the umbrella term and the others are points that can affect it. Moral Relativism claims that there is no objective truth concerning morality, therefore no one can draw a line between what is right or wrong.
Ethical relativist deny any objective moral values. Cultural relativism explains that in different times and in different places people act in different ways; they acquire different values and ideas of what is morally right and wrong. Moral relativism explains that there are no moral absolutes; everyone can do what they please and how they want whenever they like.
Cultural relativism refers to the view that ethical systems or moral actions that are perceived to vary across cultural diversity are all equal and valid and as such, no one culture is better than the other is. For instance, by taking how words are used in one culture to mean a thing, the same words may be employed in a different culture to mean another thing. Another example is prayer announcements in Saudi Arabia can be heard from far distance which legal. Even if that may disturb your neighbors who are not Muslims. However, in United States such thing is illegal and consider a noise violation.
Journal #11 Ethical Frameworks Directions: In your journal, define the following positions, outline criticisms/ counterclaims, and then evaluate from your perspective. Moral Relativism: Diversity Argument: It wasn’t long ago that people really started becoming aware of the essence of moral diversity. It was discovered that affiliates of different cultures very often have completely different beliefs about what is considered wrong and what is considered right and usually act according to their beliefs.
Before diving into the arguments for and against moral relativism, it is important to define some key terms including morality, cultural diversity, and tolerance. David Fisher, a Teaching Fellow at King’s College, London defines morality in his book, Morality and War: Can War Be Just in the Twenty-first Century?. “Morality is thus neither mysterious nor irrational but furnishes the necessary guidelines for how we can promote human welfare and prevent suffering” (Fisher 134). Cultural diversity is simply the existence of various cultures in society. Tolerance is just the ability to accept something that you would not normally agree with.
Ethical relativism encouraged the view that we should be tolerant of other cultures even if their practices seem abhorrent to us, as it is their own beliefs. Relativists believe we have no right to questions the practices and beliefs of other cultures. Objectivists, however, attempt to establish a set of values and rules based on what they consider basic moral principles that affect all
From a relativist's perspective, moral values are only applicable within certain cultures and societies. Something that may be viewed as morally correct in the United States could be unethical in Zimbabwe and vice versa. For example, in Somalia, it is acceptable, or moral for a family to kill a female family member if she is raped, while here in the United States the murder of a family member is viewed as extremely unethical and cruel. A more simplistic example of this is the fact that it is not unethical in American culture to consume beef, while in India it is viewed as unethical. The reason for this is because of the diverse cultures and their own set of moral standards. This theory states that there are many values and ideas that can be considered morally correct while disagreeing with one another. However, there are also few downsides to this theory. Relativism may lead to immorality because of opposing perspectives and cultures. Just because one culture views something as good or bad, right or wrong, does not mean this is true. This theory is based off of personal preferences and values, which can lead to conflict and clashing of values. Relativism also does a poor job of establishing an absolute set of ethics, and does not take into consideration that the values and norms of a society can change over time.
Moral Relativism is generally used to describe the differences among various cultures that influence their morality and ethics. According to James Rachels, because of moral relativism there typically is no right and wrong and briefly states : “Different cultures have different moral codes.” (Rachels, 18) Various cultures perceive right and wrong differently. What is considered right in one society could be considered wrong in another, but altogether all cultures have some values in common.
In a selection from her book titled, “Patterns of Culture,” Ruth Benedict argues that most people are “Plastic to the molding force of the society into which they are born” (p. 254). Culture profoundly shapes people’s lives, including their values, norms and taboos. Additionally, Benedict argues that, as social norms and values are a cultural construct, the customs and traditions of a culture different from one’s own should not be considered “inferior” or “wrong.” Thoughts and behavior outside the “cultural norm” are not immoral or wrong, they simply illustrate the “Dilemma of the individual whose congenial drives are not provided for in his culture” (p. 262).
Two main types of ethical relativism are cultural relativism and normative ethical relativism. Cultural relativism says that there are different cultures and they always have different ways of thinking behaving and learning from the generation before, and this can be seen in daily life just by how different countries do things like music, dress, and even politics. Normative ethical relativism says that there is no universal right or wrong in the universe instead it says that what is right or wrong is different from society to society and that there is no