PHL 3000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Cultural Relativism, Fetus, Inuit
Module 3
Arguments in Action: Cultural Relativism
Critical Thinking: Two Questions
• What do you mean by that?
o Clarify
o Before you can evaluate an idea or theory, you must first understand it
o Clearly define important terms in clear and unambiguous terms
o Compare and contrast with other views or ideas
• How do you know what you claim to know?
o Reasons to believe
o Argument assessment
o Are the premises true?
o Do they provide support for the conclusion?
Understanding Cultural Relativism
• A moral theory that attempts to explain what makes actions right and wrong, and claims
the following:
o An action (A) is right for the members of a culture (C) if and only if the members
of C approve of A
o An action (A) is wrong for the members of a culture (C) if and only if the
members of C disapprove of A
• Before we can assess this theory, we must ask a clarifying question because there are two
ways to understand what Cultural Relativism means
o This is because we can use language to describe the moral beliefs of people, but
we can also use language to prescribe the moral beliefs that people ought to have
▪ Descriptive language has the goal of accurately detailing the way things
are, or describing reality
▪ However sometimes we want to do something other than that. We want to
explain not how things are but how they should be – normative language
Two Types of Cultural Relativism
• Descriptive Cultural Relativism (DCR): as a matter of descriptive fact, people of
different cultures have different moral beliefs and practices
o To determine whether this theory is true would require the work of sociologists
and anthropologists to examine the actual existing moral practices of a culture and
to accurately record what they find
▪ Not the relativism we are interested in
o It seems obviously true that moral beliefs differ between Dcultures (maybe not as
much as you think)
• Normative Cultural Relativism (NCR): the cultural norms and moral beliefs of a
culture determine what is right or wrong for the members of that culture
o There are no absolute ethical truths that apply to everyone, regardless of where
and when you exist. What is actually right for you depends on what your culture
believe is right for you
▪ This view we will consider: is what is right for you determined by your
culture?
• Not influenced, but determined
o It is important to note that NCR is committed to there being correct answers to
moral questions, and that each of us could have mistaken moral beliefs
▪ If correct
o The standard of right and wrong for the theory is what the members of your
culture actually approve of and disapprove of. Since these are facts independent
of you and your beliefs, you can be wrong about them.
Understanding NCR
• First we must determine if we fully understand what NCR actually says about right and
wrong before it can be assessed
• Two questions:
o What culture am I a member of?
▪ The problem here is that culture is not as clearly defined and separate as
the statement of NCR makes it out to be
▪ You are a member of many cultures and your cultures may have differing
morals
• Differences between cultures is not clear cut anymore
• NCR is incoherent when it comes to this because these cultures say
you must both do and not do what is right or wrong according to
your differing cultures
o What does my culture approve and disapprove of?
▪ Let’s suppose that we can find some way to get around the first problem
with NCR and that you can identify just one culture that you belong to
▪ What criterion will we use to determine if a culture approves or
disapproves of something?
• For example, do Americans approve or disapprove of abortion?
• NCR could say that the issue is neither right nor wrong or that it is
both
o The more people disagree the less there is an answer to the
question
o The fact that people disagree may have nothing to do with
right or wrong – which is a theory doubting cultural
relativism
Arguments in Support of NCR
The Cultural Differences Argument
• One of the most common reasons given for accepting NCR is the fact that different
cultures do in fact have different moral beliefs, and this means that something like NCR
has to be true
o It’s not possible to criticize another culture because it’s all relative
o However this is wrong
• Reasoning behind the line of thought:
o Premise: Different cultures have different moral beliefs and practices
o Conclusion: Therefore, what is right and wrong varies from culture to culture
• Assessing the arguments:
o Are the premises true?
Document Summary
We want to explain not how things are but how they should be normative language. If correct: the standard of right and wrong for the theory is what the members of your culture actually approve of and disapprove of. Since these are facts independent of you and your beliefs, you can be wrong about them. Consider the modern idea that all people have equal rights. If it doesn"t work for the shape of the earth it doesn"t work for morality: the fact of disagreement proves nothing, validity matters. If ncr is true, then that just means that killing. Jewish people is in fact just wrong for me: although the members of nazi germany approved of the killing of jewish people, they were wrong to do so, ncr cannot make sense of this. If the theory is true and the members did approve of this, then that action was in fact right for them.
