Rachels Chapt.2

The Challenge of Cultural Relativism

How Different Cultures Have Different Moral Codes

Observed fact: different cultures have different moral codes

different things taboos and obligatory
even opposites: the Darius annectdote

among the Greeks

morally obliged to burn your dead's corpses
morally forbidden to eat them

among the Callatians

morally obliged to eat your dead's corpses
morally forbidden to burn them ;-)

Cultural Relativism

Relativist Conclusion drawn from facts like these

There is no universal morality -- no morality per se; rather just

Ancient Greek morality
Callatian morality
traditional Eskimo morality
modern American morality (such as it is . . . )
etc.

X is Good and incomplete expresssion meaning X is good in culture Y.
Morality differs in every society and is a convenient term for socially approved habits. (Ruth Benedict)

The Cultural Differences Argument

The Argument

Different cultures have different moral codes
So, there is no objective right or wrong, no objective good or evil

universal: holds for all cultures
absolute: regardless of what they believe

Criticism: the argument is unsound: conclusion doesn't follow from the factual premise

as shown by parity of reason argument, substituting belief

Ancients believed the earth was flat & we believe it's spheroidal or "round".
Therefore, the earth has no objective shape.

flat for the ancients
round for us

but the earth is really round -- the ancients were just wrong

In general it does not follow from the fact of disagreement that there is no fact of the matter being disagreed about.

The Consequences of Taking Cutural Relativism Seriously

Reductio argument

Provisionally assume X . . . if CR were true
Draw out the consequences . . . this would follow
Show that the consequences are absurd . . . but that's absurd (obviously false)
Conclude not X . . . so CR can't be true.

Absurdities following from the assumption of CR

We could no longer say that the customs of other societies are morally inferior to our own: criticism (or praise) of another culture's practices could never be unwarranted

a. e.g., the treatment of women in some Muslim lands & China
etc.

We could decide whether actions are right or wrong just by consulting the standards of our society.

a. e.g., the abolitionists were wrong to condemn slavery as immoral since -- according to the standards of their antebellum culture -- there was nothing wrong with it.
would-be moral reformers are automatically mistaken: every society would of necessity be morally perfect

morality is whatever a culture believes it to be
whatever it believes it to be it believes it to be
so a cultures moral beliefs could never fail to correspond to what's really moral (since the cultures believing it so makes it so)

possibility of moral progress called into doubt: How can you improve on perfection?

Why there is less disagreement than it seems

Many seeming differnces are merely surface differences

a. expressions of common values
under differnt conditions

Example

both Callations and Greeks acknowledged obligation to honor their dead

Callations by eating them
Greeks by cremating them
But "honor thy dead" is a value they share

How All Cultures Have Some Values in Common

Values necessary for survival of a culture, presumably

Examples

caring for their young
truth telling
prohibition of murder

Discussion (LH): Falls short of full justification of objectivity of value

universality it gets: there are values all cultures share (if this is right)
absolutely values . . . not

right or wrongness still depends on what they believe
it's just that they're unanimous in their beliefs

What Can be Learned from Cultural Relativism

tolerance of diversity

Warns us against being too dogmatic . . . even if there are absolute values

not all our values reflect objective moral truths
recognize that, almost certainly

many of our practices and beliefs are provincial: not the right way, just our way

many things we take to be objectively right and wrong probably are merely conventional: e.g, burial v. cremation

promotes open-mindedness; acceptance of a certain diversity

the upshot a nutshell

retain the right of mutual criticism (i.e., reject CR)