Cultural Relativism And The Inuit Culture

Cultural relativism is a theory about the nature of morality and how it challenges one’s ordinary belief regarding the objectivity and universality of moral truth (Rachels, 1993, p. 56). In this essay, I will critically evaluate and explore the problems associated with the position of cultural relativism: that all moral values are relative to culture. First, I will begin by explaining what exactly cultural relativism is. Following this, I will explore the faults in cultural relativism and how it overestimates differences between cultures and underestimates similarities between cultures. Finally, I will explain the human condition. Because the cultural relativism theory misjudges the differences and similarities between various cultures, it

61). This assertion is problematic, because many cultures share key aspects, moral codes, and ethic systems. On the surface, cultures may appear to have significant differences between one another. By further examining why a culture practices certain customs and has certain beliefs, one can conclude that cultures may not be as dissimilar as they once first perceived. For example, infanticide is common among the Inuit culture. Western culture looks at this act as extremely immoral, and that perpetrators should be severely punished. By exploring the reasons as to why the Inuit culture does this, it can be concluded that infanticide is not done out of the lack of respect for human life but truly just the opposite. Harsh environments, short food supplies, and a mother’s inability to care for many children are only some of the reasons as to why Inuit families practice infanticide. “Infanticide does not signal a fundamentally different attitude toward children,” says Rachels (p. 62). “Instead, it is a recognition that drastic measures are sometimes needed to ensure the family’s survival.” In reality, the values of the Inuit culture are not all that different from the values of the Western culture; they just have to make choices that other cultures may not necessarily have to make (p. 62). It would be a contradiction to say that cultural relativism involves severely

There are universal values that all cultures have in common, because those values make it essential for society to exist (p. 64). Telling the truth is a universal value. If people did not tell the truth, trust within a society would dissolve essentially making communication impossible. Communication is an essential component to the proper function of a society and because of this, truth telling is an objective