Does The Isolating Block Praise As Well As Blame?
Cultural Relativism is the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. Cultural relativists believe that all cultures are worthy in their own right and are of equal value. Diversity of cultures, even those with conflicting moral beliefs, is not to be considered in terms of right and wrong or good and bad. Some believe that morality is relative to culture, but some believe that argument is invalid. Some also argue that there is such a thing as moral isolationism. There are some people who believe that morality is relative to culture simply because different cultures have different moral codes, which makes sense because if every culture was the same then we would all fall under the same morality clauses and there would be no sense of culture. So as a culture it is wrong and arrogant of us to judge another culture because according to them, their right
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Moral isolationists believe that one cannot take up a critical position, in the fact that morality is like money. Just as money can differ from culture to culture, so can morality and moral codes. Midgley poses a question about the isolating barrier. The question states, “Does the isolating barrier block praise as well as blame?”. This question is compelling because what we have learned up to this point is that we just can’t judge another culture, so we should be able to give it praise correct? Nope, Midgley states that you cannot praise without criticism, and you cannot criticize without praise. So the barrier does block praise and criticism. Midgley says that in order to praise you must have solid ground to stand on, but since we can’t blame or criticize we don’t have a solid ground to stand on to praise. Once again you cannot praise without criticism, and you can’t criticize or blame without praise. The barrier however is not on solid ground
Moral isolationists believe that one cannot take up a critical position, in the fact that morality is like money. Just as money can differ from culture to culture, so can morality and moral codes. Midgley poses a question about the isolating barrier. The question states, “Does the isolating barrier block praise as well as blame?”. This question is compelling because what we have learned up to this point is that we just can’t judge another culture, so we should be able to give it praise correct? Nope, Midgley states that you cannot praise without criticism, and you cannot criticize without praise. So the barrier does block praise and criticism. Midgley says that in order to praise you must have solid ground to stand on, but since we can’t blame or criticize we don’t have a solid ground to stand on to praise. Once again you cannot praise without criticism, and you can’t criticize or blame without praise. The barrier however is not on solid ground