Cultural Relativism

1. UNDERSTANDING THE
DIVERSITY OF MORAL
BELIEFS:
CULTURAL RELATIVISM

2. Exercise-- Culture Clash
 What are some examples Rachels gives of
culture clash? Explain what makes them
unique, odd or different.
 With your group, brainstorm at least two
other examples of differing moral codes,
customs, or behaviors. Explain what
makes them unique, odd or different.

3. Cultural Relativism
 “Different cultures have different moral codes” often is
used as a key to understanding morality. Proponents
argue that there is not as universal truth in ethics; there
are only the various cultural codes and nothing more.
The customs of different societies is all that exist.
 Proponents would argue that customs can not be judged
as correct or incorrect.
 Our own code of ethics has no special status; it is merely
one among many
Tightening the Definition– The focus here is on whether or
not one culture can judge another; the focus is not on
whether or not one individual can judge another.

4. Cultural Relativism
Challenges our ordinary belief in the
objectivity and universality of moral truths--
 It says in effect that there is no such thing
as a universal truth or ethical standard
that can be applied.
 Refutes ethnocentrism-- Your own code
of ethics offers nothing special and is no
better than that of another culture.
Sounds appealing…

6. Response…
Discuss this video with your group and record
some of the points that come up.
Consider:
1) Should this practice be illegal? Can it be
deemed morally wrong?
2) Can you compare this practice with
cosmetic surgery?
3) What points made by members of the panel
stood out to you the most and why? What is
your reaction?

7. REVIEW
What is cultural relativism?
How does it challenge traditional
beliefs?

8. Some Conflicting Approaches
 Moral Realism (aka Moral Objectivism): There are
objective moral facts. Therefore, ethics is
somewhat like science: Its task is to discover (not
decide) what these moral facts are.
 Ethical Absolutists: There is a single standard
ethical standard; that standard is usually their own.
 Ethical (cultural or moral) Relativists: Each
culture as an island unto itself, right in its own
world, and they deny any overarching standard
with which conflicting cultures (not individuals) can
be judged.
 Ethical Pluralists: Cultures can legitimately pass
judgments on one another, but encourages us to
listen to what other cultures say about us as well

9. What happens when something that is
legally and morally permissible in one
culture is illegal and immoral in another?
 Female circumcision or genital
mutilation
 Marriage of underage girls
 Infanticide
 Polygamy
 Slavery

10. Conflicting Approaches
 Moral Realist– Try to examine the situation
and context to discover the moral “facts.”
 Ethical relativist—Each culture is right unto
itself, so such practices would be morally
permissible in some countries and morally
wrong in the US.
 Ethical absolutists—There is a single moral
truth in terms of which all cultures and
individuals are to be judged.
 Pluralists—Try to find some middle ground
(in some situations this practice may make
sense, less judgmental)

11. Different moral codes
 Reminder-- Different cultures have
different moral codes. What is right within
one group maybe abhorrent to another.
 Treatment of the dead
 Polygamy
 Sharing of wives among Eskimos
 Infanticide

12. What is our reaction to
“strange or different”
customs?
 Label them as backward, uneducated, or
primitive.
 Label them heathens…
 Discriminate or harass them.
 Convert them to “our” custom or thought.
correlates with imperialist approaches…

13. William Graham Sumner
 First professorship in sociology at Yale College
 Credited with coining the term “ethnocentrism”
 Anti-Imperialist
“’The right way’ is the way which the ancestors used
and which has been handed down. The tradition is its
own warrant. It is not held subject to verification by
experience. The notion of right is in the folkways.”
 This line of thought has probably persuaded more people
to be skeptical about ethics than any other single
statement.

14. “If we assume that our ethical ideas will
be shared by all people at all times,
we are merely naïve.”
Consider ethical ideas in our society
may have changed over the years…

15.  Divorce, Living together, Sex outside of marriage
Interracial marriage, Same sex marriages, Sex
education
 Gambling, casinos, internet poker
 Internet dating
 Women in the workforce, women in the army,
women working in “masculine” jobs
 Spanking/punishment of children
 Acceptance of cremation for the dead
 Animal welfare, Recognizing that animals have
certain rights
 Natural resource protection
 Taming “mother nature” vs. “living with nature”

16. Claims of Cultural Relativists
1. Different societies have different moral
codes.
2. The moral code of a society determines
what is right within that society.
3. There is no objective standard that can be
used to judge one societies code as better
than another.
4. The moral code of our society offers
nothing special.
5. There is no universal truth in ethics…
6. It is arrogant to judge the conduct of other

17. The Cultural Differences
Argument
A theory about the
nature of morality
At the heart of the
Cultural Relativism
is the form of their
argument.

18. The Cultural Differences
Argument
Premises:
1. Different cultures have different moral codes.
2. Therefore, there are no objective truth in morality.
Right and wrong are only matters of opinion, and
opinions vary from culture to culture.
This is cultural differences argument--They argue
from facts about differences between cultural outlooks to
making conclusions about the status of morality
How is this a logical fallacy? In other words, how is it
logically unsound?

19. The Unsoundness of the Cultural
Differences Argument
The trouble is that the conclusion does not
follow from the premise—that is even if the
premise is true, the conclusion might be false.
– logical fallacy is called non sequitur
WHY? The premise concerns what people
believe; some believe one way and others
believe another, but the conclusion concerns
what really is the case.
• Just because two cultures believe differently
does inherently mean that one belief cannot

20. Example
The Greeks believed it was wrong to eat the
dead.
The Callatians believed it was right.
Does it follow, from the mere fact that
they disagreed, that there is no
objective truth in the matter?
No, it does not follow—it could be objectively
right or wrong that one or the other was
simply mistaken.

21. The Fatal Flaw of the Cultural
Difference Argument
It attempts to derive a substantive
conclusion about a subject from the mere
fact that people disagree about it.
Caution: This is a simple point of logic. This
does not necessarily mean that the
conclusion is false, the logic is that the
conclusion does not follow from the premise.

22. The Consequences of
Accepting Cultural Relativism
1) We could no longer say that custom of other
societies are morally inferior to others. (This is
one of the main points of Cultural Relativism.)
+ We would have to stop condemning other
societies merely because they are
different.
- Tolerance towards slavery, anti Semitism,
hatred towards ethnic groups, or minorities,
child porn, sex slave trade
• If we took the cultural relativism seriously, we would
have to regard these behaviors as immune from
criticism as long as they are considered morally
acceptable within the practicing culture.

23. If we accept Cultural
Relativism
2) We could decide whether actions are right or
wrong just by consulting the standards of our
society.
In Colonial America slavery was OK, women
were not allowed to vote or own property,
primogeniture was practiced, etc.; therefore,
these things were right.
(+) deciding what is right or wrong in a situation
is easier

24. If we accept Cultural
Relativism
3) The idea of moral progress is called into doubt.
Progress implies doing things better, but cultural
relativism rejects making judgments about past
eras.
Reform movements such as rights for women
and minorities that implies modern society is
better is a judgment that is impossible to make.

25. Problems with Cultural
Relativism
1. No blame of other cultures for “wrong” or “evil”
deeds. Are cultures morally infallible?
2. No criticism of our own culture
3. No idea of moral progress
4. In a relativist society the view of the majority
rules. Is this fair?
5. Is tolerance a universal value, in which case
relativism is paradoxical?
7. Don’t we all instinctively believe that some
things are universally right and wrong?

26. The Result?
Many reject the cultural relativism arguments--
1. It makes sense to condemn some practices
wherever they occur.
2. It makes sense to acknowledge that our
society while imperfect has made moral
progress.
3. Because Cultural Relativism implies these
judgments make no sense, the argument goes,
it cannot be right.

27. There is Less Disagreement Than it
Seems (Across Cultures)
There are differences across societies, but
the differences are often over-stated. In fact,
there are some values that can be seen as
relatively universal because they are
necessary for societies to function.
 Need to explore not particular practices or
values, but the belief systems or
circumstances that lie behind the
practices.
 The differences are often in the belief

28. Source of Customs
Beliefs—religious beliefs
Physical circumstances of the society
Even if customs differ, there may be less
disagreement on basic values
Example: Eskimos infanticide
“drastic measures are sometimes needed to
ensure the family’s survival…The Eskimos
values are not all that different than our own. It is
only that life forces upon them choices that we
do not have to make.”

29. Universal(ish) Values in
Societies
1. Value of protecting the young
2. Truth telling
3. Prohibition of murder
What would the consequence be of not having
these values?
“There are some moral rules that all societies
must have in common, because those rules
are necessary for society to exist.”

30. Other universal values or moral
rules
 Prohibition against incest
 Personal responsibility
 The proper role of government is to take
care of its citizens
 Everyone should serve their country
 Everyone should obey the law

31. To judge or not to judge…
In 1996 a 17 year old girl from Togo a West
African country arrived in the US and asked
for asylum to avoid “ excision”, a practice
referred to as “female circumcision” or
“female genital mutilation”. According to the
WHO, the practice is widespread in 26
African countries and 2 million girls are
excised each year.
Reaction in the New York Times,
encouraged the idea that excision was a

32. Cultural Point: Young girls often look forward to
this because it a acceptance into adulthood; it
is an accepted practice in many villages.
Consequences of excision: painful, results in
permanent loss of sexual pleasure,
hemorrhage, tetanus, septicemia, death,
chronic infections, hinder walking, chronic
pain
Note: There are no apparent no social benefits,
nor is there a religious factor.

33. Rationale for the Practice
1) Women are incapable of sexual pleasure
and less likely to be promiscuous.
2) Fewer unwanted pregnancies in unmarried
women
3) Women will be more faithful to their
husbands and focused on their children.
4) Un-excised women are viewed as unclean
and immature.
5)Arguments for this practice is that it benefits
men, women, families and children.
What problem do you see here with the

34. Is excision harmful or helpful?
Cultural Relativists would conclude that
excision has been practiced for centuries and
we should not intervene and change ancient
ways.
We may ask whether a practice promotes
or hinders the welfare of the people who
lives are affected by it. And as a corollary,
is there an alternative set of social
arrangements that would do a better job of
promoting their welfare. If so, we may

35. Reluctance to Criticize
1) Many thoughtful people have been reluctant to
criticize what many view as a barbaric practice
because:
Interfering with the social customs of other
people. (Europeans and Americans have been
criticized for destroying other cultures, Native
Americans)
2) Acceptance of strange practices (tolerance)
toward others.
3) Reluctance to criticize other societies-- do not
want to express contempt

36. Lessons From Cultural
Relativism
While it rests on invalid argument, it is
still an appealing theory…
Two important lessons 

37. Lesson 1
It warns us about the dangers of assuming
that our preferences are based upon some
absolute rational standard. They are not.
Many of our practices are merely particular to
our society and it is easy to forget this.
There are many matters that we tend to think
of in terms of objective right or wrong, that are
really nothing more than social conventions.


38. Examples of social conventions we tend think of as
“right” or “wrong” that are really nothing more than
social conventions:
 Women covering their breasts
 Separate restrooms for men and women
 Men opening the door for women
 No shoes, no shirt, no service
 Fathers giving their daughters away in wedding
ceremony
 Wearing a wedding band on the fourth finger of
the left hand
 Swearing, drinking, gambling, etc.

39. Lesson 2
Keep an open mind—
Maybe our feelings about practices, values
and beliefs are merely social conventions.
Example: gender bias
Maybe our feelings are not necessarily
perceptions of the truth…they may be
nothing more than cultural conditioning.

40. Claims of Cultural Relativists
1. Different societies have different moral codes.
2. The moral code of a society determines what is
right within that society.
3. There is no objective standard that can be used
to judge one societies code as better than
another.
4. The moral code of our society offers nothing
special.
5. There is no universal truth in ethics…
6. It is arrogant to judge the conduct of other
societies; we should adopt an attitude of
tolerance.