Cultural Relativism Vs American Ethics

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The study of ethics is learning how other people think and make decisions and to see what moral standards they follow. It is also comparing ethics of the past to the present, and from one culture to another. As well as, seeing if people follow the ethical standards that they say they do. Ethics are in the everyday life, we make decisions based on what we believe. We ask ourselves if it is right or just or does it benefit us. We make them at school, deciding if cheating on a test is fine, or when we get older in politics, are we going to be democratic or republican. We need to have a base of what we believe ethically, so when future issues come up, we can decide if we believe it or not. Our ethics also determine how we respond to our surroundings, …show more content…

America is different from countries in Europe, everyplace is different. There are even different ideas within the larger group, such as America. We have states and cities, but most of the main overall ethics are in the large group. Examples are, murder. The government punishes people for murdering, but someone may grow up where that is fine, just a different background and views on …show more content…

James Rachels is quoted in the book on this topic. He had the insight of the cow. The culture doesn 't eat cows, but the reason behind it is the real breakdown of the culture. Later on Wilkens talks about how if a culture believes, “You shall not steal,” but they could steal from outsiders. Is this common that relativist are as self-contradictory as this? He later explains that yes, almost all of the view is that way. That is an argument used against them. They are inconsistent with almost everything. They say there is no truth and yet they believe in absolute relativism. The word absolute means truth. The only argument for relativists is their tolerance for everyone, but even this is a weak argument. The raising generation, is known for toleration, it is a worldview. Toleration can be good, we can understand and see other cultures, but if we are to tolerant then we lose our worldview and what we believe because we adapt other cultures. This is the reason people believe culture relativism, every culture is different and we don 't always have believe what other cultures