In your own words, answer this unit's discussion questions in a main post (recommended minimum 200 words).

 

Assignment Details

Should people just say "live and let live" when they look at the practices of another culture that they find objectionable?

Begin by reading this short article, Cultural Relativism vs. Ethical Relativism, and then answer the following questions:

• What is cultural relativism? What is ethical relativism? What, if any, is the relationship between the two?
• Do people outside of a culture have the right to criticize that culture's values or beliefs? Why or why not?
• Think of a strong example of a cultural practice. For example, say another culture practices child marriages. What would a cultural relativist say about this? What would an ethical relativist say about it?

 Respond to at least 2 peers' postings (recommended minimum 75 words).

( 1 peer post) Hi Class! From what I learned in this lesson, "Cultural Relativism", is the notion that although a culture can vary drastically from what we feel is right or even normal, we have to decide whether they have mutual moral goals and universal goals as a society that have the same outcome as our own, such as happiness and self preservation. "Ethical Relativism" is the notion that even if what we may see is wrong or uncomfortable to us, can be a very normal situation for others. They are connected in the way that we can see just how different what we do can be from what is seen or how our actions are perceived. 

     It is not our right or position to criticize what another culture might be doing or how they feed their families, though to a certain point, everything should be done considering all that are involved. Such situations are the practices of cultures that involve child marriages. These happen every day but will more than likely never be stopped. According to (Oprea,2005) "one of the underlying rationales behind a family's arrangement of a child marriage is preservation of the girl's virginity and, by extension, the family's honour." So this can be the side taken when addressing cultural relativism and child marriage. And (Doogan,n.d.) states "Families engaging in this are under the impression that in pushing their daughter into a marriage at a young age there will be no chance for sexual interaction, leaving them "pure". " Which is no way a better argument to the problem.

     I disagree with child marriages but who am I to argue with generations of beliefs? Hopefully in the future there will be a better way to spread a better morality to some cultures, though as stated, that defeats the purpose of cultural relativism. The world may change for the better or it may not, so I put my energy into what o can do in my own society and grow in my own culture. 

 

(2 peer post) Cultural relativism is an affirmation that holds that societies are dissimilar in their moral standards, their laws and culture protocols. To expand, cultural relativism holds that what one culture believes is immoral, another culture may believe is moral (Vasquez). In essence, cultural relativism is the view that morality is culture dependent. Ethical relativism denies the existence of a one universal moral law. Ethical relativism supports the idea because cultures of societies are dissimilar in astronomical ways they accept, it follows that there is not one correct set of precepts everyone should adopt. According to the definition, instead, people should follow the moral laws and protocols that their own unique society sets forth or accepts. Even though both cultural and ethical relativism sound similar, they do have inherited differences. Cultural relativism is seen as different societies that believe in different moralities. Cultural relativists see their view as a sociological fact where scholarly works proves the existence of different moralities. On the contrary, ethical relativists claim that the same action that is moral is immoral in another. Because the fact that people disagree about moral right and wrong shows that ethical relativism is not true. There are several conflicts within ethical relativism. One problem emerges when one asks, "Is slavery morally right, if society as a whole accepts it?" The following are conflicts within the belief of ethical relativism: when there are two conflicting views on what is laws are morally.