Since time immemorial, human beings have existed in various cultural subgroups with different beliefs and customs. What one cultural group beliefs in may differ from what another cultural group believes in. As such, notions of good and bad or right and wrong stop to have any evaluative meaning beyond the individual. Cultural relativism holds that what one culture believes to be good, right or moral may be believed to be immoral by another culture (Ladd, 1973). This view holds that morality is not universal but it depends on the culture. On the other hand, ethical relativism holds that moral principles can be justified by either an individual or by a culture.
The notion that morality should be restricted to a specific culture group is nonsensical, to say the least. There needs to be some basic absolute wrong or right irrespective of the cultural group under scrutiny. Since different communities have disagreements about particular issues, it is not possible to assume that these truths are a property of one specific community or group of people. The only logical place where such concepts can thrive is something more basic than culture. There ought to be a common universal moral standard irrespective of culture or location. Accepting cultural relativism as the basis for morality may lead to chaos and social disorder. For instance, cultural relativism would consider Adolf Hitler as moral as Gandhi or Mother Teresa since all of them lived by their own standards whatever those might be. This is wrong and that is why there should be a common universal standard that permeates all cultures. As such, all cultures are not equally good.
While no culture is superior to the other, some beliefs held by some cultures can be considered weird and unacceptable. The difficult question is who this person at the centre judging cultures is while he has his own culture which has various weaknesses too. While this is a hard question to answer, it is necessary to respect other people’s culture and not try to impose one’s norms on others. Even with this, cultural relativism should not be allowed to thrive as it may cause social disorder and in some cases human degradation. The best way to determine whether a culture is better than another or not should be pegged on various principles. The basic one is that a culture would be inferior to another if it encourages racism, tolerates slavery, advocates for war and aggression at the expense of peace, and abuses women and children. Having such a pedestal against which the morality of a culture is judged may not only ensure that all cultures are respected but morality is seen as a universal thing than a private entity.
By and large, cultural relativism is porous since it relies on the principle that a society has the ability to determine what is absolute right and what is absolute wrong. A society that embraces such a notion loses the ability to make any judgments at all. While respecting all cultures and their beliefs, it is essential to remember that there are some things which are immoral to humankind irrespective of the culture or society they have been done in. There is no culture that should be considered superior to the other but a good culture must fight against racism, slavery and any other thing that demeans human life. All cultures are not equally good.
References
Ladd, John (1973). Ethical Relativism. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
