The Importance Of Cultural Relativism

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Culture, as everyone can agree, is a vital part of our lives. It influences our views, values, hopes, dreams, or even our worries and fears. We live in a world full of diverse ethnicity and that is why it is important for us to have a wide perspective and understanding of different cultures. Through culture, people develop a sense of belonging, personal growth and the capacity to empathize and associate with others. According to Cultural Relativism (n.d.), cultural relativism is the view that moral or ethical systems, which vary from culture to culture, are all equally valid and no one system is really “better” than any other. This is based on the idea that there is no ultimate standard of good or evil, so every judgment about right and wrong is a product of society. Therefore, any opinion on morality or ethics is subject to the cultural perspective of each person. Ultimately, this means that no moral or ethical system can be considered the “best,” or “worst”, and no particular moral or ethical position can actually be considered “right” or “wrong.” So, the question is, do we embrace cultural relativism? In actual truth, we do not really embrace it. While cultural relativism does have its merits, but applying such an outlook to its fullest extent could lead to some serious debates and controversies. This is because there is an undeniable fact that our cultures and differences do matter, and people do tend to judge different practices of other cultures that may be deemed