Theory
of Cultural Relativism
Einstein
would be proud of a theory that incorporates a relative stance toward an
idea. Would the father of special relativity
conclude that E=mc2 (where E is exceptions to the “norm”, m is morality, and c is culture), however? The answer, he probably wouldn’t have enough time to think about anything outside of his field to answer this question, but this idea is applicable to the challenge of cultural relativism. The issue presented in the article “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism” is the question of whether cultural differences are a result of different beliefs, failing morality, or both. An answer to this question could be explained by the idea of cultural relativism, but isn’t a full answer, as James Rachels explains.
Cultural
relativism is an idea that there is no true right or wrong because different
societies have different beliefs in what is right and wrong. Due to the fact that society defines and shapes one’s perspectives of what "right" and "wrong" are, is there really any way that any group of people, who does something another group of people considers wrong, could do wrong? Cultural
relativism would have that cultures could do right by their standards, and that
they should be viewed subjectively against their own culture, and no one else’s. This could be very problematic, as the
article says that wars waged over the right to allow more slavery could be
technically right to the one culture, so it must be allowed and legal due to
this idea. The article then states that
cultural relativism could be incorporated into an overall stance towards other
cultures, but not the only idea in the back of one’s head, as each culture does
have morals which are virtually the same across all cultures.
Many
times cultures are discriminated against due to their deviation from what
another culture calls normal. An example
is in Things Fall Apart, where the
Christian missionaries have a problem with the clan’s religious belief
system. The clan is then subjugated to
the new, invasive culture’s ways of life and law. In this case, cultural relativism was not
observed, and an extreme opposite was used.
In every sense, society, which teaches what is right and wrong, are to
be held accountable and responsible for one’s beliefs, morals, and motives for
doing something. Novels focusing on the very
distant past, future, or an alternative world such as Beowulf and The Fountainhead
all have different cultures due to their different societies. Society, in effect, controls and changes
culture, as it once started each culture.
In my
own opinion, cultural relativism should be observed only when a culture affects
something in its own culture. When a
culture interacts with other cultures, a universal set of morals and objectivism
should be respected. While someone
should not discriminate against someone else’s culture, if that culture
impedes, influences, intervenes in, or overall affects another group of people,
cultural relativism does not really apply and an objective view should be
taken, viewed from outside either of the involved cultures to decide what is
right, just, and fair. No matter what,
however, there are always different definitions of right and wrong, and
conflict always arises. This holds true
unless there would only be one universal culture to which everyone belongs,
which is nearly impossible. The theory
of relativity is more readily perfected than a theory of cultural relativism, a
statement which Einstein would most likely agree with.
