The Challenge Of Cultural Relativism By James Rachels

The link provided talks about an 11 year old afghan girl sitting on her soon to be 40 year old husbands lap. I think that this is an example of culture relativism because in the culture that they are a part of this is something that is not frowned upon and actually occurs often. In America citizens would be appalled if something like this was to happen. The article states that “the girl was sold for money”, this is also a normal thing for this country to practice upon. It is very clear from the photo that we come from very different cultures, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that just because their culture differs from ours that it is wrong. You can see that this is something that is traditionally done in this culture and something that people

Ethnocentrism is a tendency to use our own group’s ways of doing things as a yardstick for judging others (Pg. 40, Ch. 2). Cultural Relativism is understanding a culture on its own terms (Pg. 41, Ch.2). The concept I favor is Cultural Relativism because people should be able to understand and recognize a different culture’s background. It is evident that everyone has different ways to go about life/culture. Coming from another country and knowing two different cultures, helps me understand two different perspectives. I am not a type of person who will judge or believe my way of life/culture is the correct one. Everyone is different, live differently, and think differently. Therefore, Cultural Relativism makes sense to appreciate more because it allows a person to understand where different cultures are coming from. When you think about it, cultural relativism is quite hard to

Cultural relativism, as defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “Is the thesis that a person’s culture strongly influences her modes of perception and thought” Most cultural relativists add to this definition saying that there is no standard of morality. This means that morality is relative to the particular society that one lives in. Prominent ethicist James Rachels has written against this view in his work titled The Challenge of Cultural Relativism. This paper will be focused on evaluating Rachels’ critique of cultural relativism, and whether it was right for him to endorse

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.

After reading the article “Toward Ending Cultural and Cognitive Relativism in Special Education” by Kauffman and Sasso, I tend to agree with their general assertions. One specific statement I found intriguing “Postmodernism argues the rejection of science as the most useful tool of special educators” (Kauffman, & Sasso, 2006, p. 67). Therefore, meaning to be considered a postmodernist an individual must rely on judgment to build a foundation of truth. Everything must be judged in order to establish truth, good and bad and how these determinations are applied in life in the educational fields. Furthermore subscribing to this philosophy establishes credibility to those of authority, especially those in the educational fields will obtain the

Culture in and of itself is one of the most complicated topics to discuss. I, a muslim palestinian woman born and raised in Canada can view both sides of such an argument as critical cultural relativism is something that the muslim community is very well common with.

Cultural relativism can be defined as the principle of analyzing a culture from the viewpoint of the culture itself; your own culture can’t interfere in the process of analysis. In this paper, I will analyze how one’s partiality can affect his judgment of a culture, more specifically, a fictional one. Reading a fantasy book makes, in some aspects, one to do an anthropological study. You need to understand the social mechanisms of the new world you are exploring, how people think, which species exist in the world and all possible information that the book gives you, therefore, being biased in your analysis means to probably have the wrong conclusions about the social phenomena of the book. Moreover, a lot of science fiction and fantasy books have criticism and parodies about our society; some authors are more direct than others when showing the problems of our society - as we observe in Brave New

“Cultural relativism is the idea that the beliefs and practices of a culture should be understood within the context of that particular culture’s background, history, and current events surrounding it. We should not ethnocentrically impose our own beliefs and opinions, which are products of our own enculturation.” (Crapo, 2013). My parents taught my siblings and I never to judge anyone, and that what comes around goes around. There are two parts to this paper with two different topics, courtship and marriage and the Muslim women’s dilemma to wear or not to wear the veil. In this paper I will be discussing marriage and courtship in the United States from an outsider’s perspective, along with the misconceptions of the Veil and of the women of the Islamic culture from an insiders perpective.

Cultural relativism is the way in which our individual beliefs and opinions should be understood by others of the same or of different cultures. The Charlie Hebdo media murders in France January 2015 is a fine example of the way in which the views of the world are diverse depending on different cultural perspectives. Charlie Hebdo is a satirical weekly newspaper, it takes contentious world issues such as religion and politics and holds them up to the world with the intent to disgrace individuals, cooperation’s and society in order to get them to improve. Due to its almost antagonistic manner it was a successful target of a ‘terrorist attack’. Two armed gunmen stormed the office and killed eleven members of staff claiming they were defending the Prophet Muhammad.

Cultural relativism is the idea that morals and values differ from place to place, and there is no right or wrong when two cultures' moral sets are compared (Brusseau, 2012). This differs from traditional ethical theories, of which Immanuel Kant was a proponent, which propose that there is a universal code of ethics and basic rights entitled to every person ("Universal ethics," n.d.) In the Case Study Mordidas (Brusseau, 2011), cultural relativism and the reconciliation traditional ethical theories come into play as we examine the way Mexico City police officers take bribes instead of issuing traffic tickets to civilian drivers.

The term culture relativism helps the viewer understand what the situation of the characters are. The use of Culture Relativism is to not judge a culture or group of people but trying to understand their situation. This topic of not judging illegal immigrants is important to note in this film, especially because the whole movie is about an immigrant trying to find a better life in the land of opportunities. In order to not judge the crime that Carlos made when coming to the united states, the viewer has to put themselves in his point of view. When Carlos waits for a truck to pick him to work, the viewer has to understand that being a gardener is one of the few jobs that does not require background checks making this option the best for his

The central thesis of Beauchamp’s argument is as follows: I argue that although a relativism of all moral standards is an untenable position, a lower-level relativism of moral judgment and multiculturalism are morally warranted. I conclude that there is a universal common morality, but that it allows for moral disagreement and legitimate differences of opinion about how to render universal norms specific for business contexts. Moral relativism is defined as the view that ethical standards and morality are culturally based and therefore based on a person 's individual choice. Beauchamp discusses two types of relativism: cultural and normative.

The central thesis of Beauchamp’s argument is as follows: I argue that although a relativism of all moral standards is an untenable position, a lower-level relativism of moral judgment and multiculturalism are morally warranted. I conclude that there is a universal common morality, but that it allows for moral disagreement and legitimate differences of opinion about how to render universal norms specific for business contexts. Moral relativism is defined as the view that ethical standards and morality are culturally based and therefore based on a person 's individual choice. Beauchamp

Every individual in the world has their own culture they practice. A person's culture is sometimes not understood; however, that’s when the idea of cultural relativism comes up. The idea concerns a person’s beliefs and activities. It's based on a person’s culture. A cultural practice could be out of hand and at other times it's not. I believe that there are limitations to a person’s cultural practices. I limit myself to the point at which people do things that have not been proven to work. Nevertheless, I am okay with a practice that does not physically harm anyone.

How do ethnocentrism and cultural relativism help us understand the differences between levels of development in societies?