Theory of Cultural Relativism

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.