Nathan Whittingham Professor Mariana Philosophy 120 12 October 2014 The Fallacy of Cultural Relativism The diversity of beliefs and ways of life is a conspicuous phenomenon that occurs within the human race. For example‚ what Satanists find right and reasonable is damnable to Christians‚ and vice-versa. Additionally‚ the ancient Aztecs practiced human sacrifice for reasons that today‚ we find totally illogical. And just as we‚ in America‚ now look back upon our history regarding slavery with
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Cultural Relativism This essay covers various aspects of cultural relativism and its argument to readers. Cultural relativism is a theory‚ which mainly concentrates on differences in values and moral beliefs of different people. To help explain the concept of cultural relativism I have used James Rachels argument. The main idea of cultural relativism is that "Different cultures have different moral codes" (Rachels 652). This means that there is no thing as universal truth ’‚ and what is right
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other cultures and societies should be doing things the way that we do them. But‚ what if our cultural definition of what is right or wrong isn’t the case for another culture.? This paper will define cultural relativism‚ explain why it is important when studying other cultures‚ explain the difference between it and ethical relativism and explain if there are limits to cultural relativism. Cultural relativism is the view that no society or culture is better than or superior to another culture when
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Cultural Relativism: A Moral Fallacy Cultural Relativism is the theory that all belief’s are equally valid and that truth itself is relative‚ depending on the situation‚ environment and individual. Those who hold the belief of Cultural Relativist‚ hold that all beliefs are completely relative to the individual within a cultural identity. In this essay‚ I will show that cultural relativism is unreliable as an ethical theory by showing the irrationality of the arguments that support it. The
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Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism may attribute to the differences btw Religion & Magic. Ethnocentrism is a cultural attitude that one’s own culture is the best‚ thus we evaluate other cultures on the basis of our own cultural perspective. On the other hand‚ Cultural Relativism is opposite of ethnocentrism and is based on understanding other cultures in the context of that culture only and not from our own cultural standard. According to Durkheim religion is a system of beliefs and practices
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Professor Hadjicostandi Sociology 1301 16 June 2012 There are two systems used to compare cultures in sociology: ethnocentrism; the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture (Macionis)‚ and cultural relativism; the practice of judging a culture by its own standards (Macionis). Since we are raised in our own culture‚ it is easiest to use ethnocentrism‚ because it comes natural to judge by our own standards. From studying “Body Rituals Among The Nacirema”‚ it is obvious
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The Flaws of Cultural Relativism Renowned philosopher Peter Singer once said: “...from a still larger point of view‚ my society is just one among other societies‚ and the interests of members of my society are no more important‚ from that larger perspective‚ than the similar interests of members of other societies… Taking the impartial element in ethical reasoning to its logical conclusion means‚ first‚ accepting that we ought to have equal concern for all human beings." What Singer is saying
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the positives and negatives regarding the concept of cultural relativism‚ but his overall position is that cultural relativism is not a strong philosophy. On the flip side of that Immanuel Kant has a completely different ethical theory that is based around deontology. Despite its positives cultural relativism cannot be defended against Rachel’s criticism‚ but Kant’s ethical theory cannot necessarily defeat cultural relativism. Cultural Relativism is the idea that moral practices and social norms change
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standards. This is because of the use of cultural relativism‚ which is the belief that something is good or wrong if and only if it is approved or disapproved in a given culture. Right and wrong values vary from society to society; therefore‚ there is no standard base to judge what is universally right or wrong between the different cultures. Because of this‚ societies may disagree about the morality of what is right and wrong. Gensler believes that if cultural relativism is true‚ then there are no right
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The authors describe cultural relativism in this chapter. They explain cultural relativism with some examples such as Callatians‚ who lived in India and ate the bodies of their dead father‚ and Eskimos‚ who are native people of Alaska and had distinct moral codes‚ such as marriages‚ sexual practices‚ and infanticide. For instance‚ infanticide was common in Eskimos’ society of the early and mid-20th century. The customs seemed that they had little respect for human life. So‚ the two examples seem
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