Cultural Relativism & the Principles of Morality

Cultural Relativism & the Principles of Morality

Introduction

In our society, every person's actions indicate the culture they live in through their own customs, beliefs and traditions. The concept of cultural relativism was first articulated in the year 1887 by Franz Boas but the specific term was not coined at that time. It is in the first few decades of the 20th decade when the term “cultural relativism” got popular and the idea of cultural relativism special consideration. The concept of cultural relativism view that on a social context an individual reflect all their beliefs, customs, and ethics relative to their culture and cultural identity. The cultural morals in our world vary from society to society, what is considered right in one society is judged immoral in other. In our societal culture persons' actions of rightness or wrongness entirely depend upon the type of society they live in, the kind of attitude they exhibit and the form of culture they believe in. The moral codes are different in different cultures. There is no firm truth objective about morality. The idea of right and wrong are only the matters of opinion that vary from person to person, culture to culture and society to society. Hence, the conception of cultural relativism believes that there is no culture superior to the other in our society.

The Concept of Cultural Relativism

The concept of cultural relativism is based on one fundamental objective that good and bad are relative to culture. In a given culture, what is considered good is what is socially approved. The moral principles that prevail in the society are based on the norms of our society. In our society morality is measured as a product of culture. There has been no clear way to resolve the differences that prevail in our society and the believers of cultural relativism believes different culture not wrong but just different from others (Hemsley, 2007).

The modern anthropology widely accepts the concept and new idea of cultural relativism. The modern anthropologist believes that all cultural and their relative norms have equal rights and value. The modern idea of anthropologist suggest that all the cultures of the society vary in their nature but despite all the conflicts and differences they hold equal legitimate expression to all the human that exist in our society. Despite all this there is no absolute standards yet established which could be applied to all the cultures (Hemsley, 2007).This implies that no society or person is given with the authority to pass judgment on the person or society with different cultural believes and norms.

Cultural Relativism & the Principles of Morality

It is presumed that morality in our society is the invention of people. The believers of cultural relativism believe that morality is not invented by the people. The invention of morality is presumed to be developed sometimes by the thoughts and at time by spontaneous trials and errors (Rachel, 1999). The general perception of right or wrong is established by the ...