Abstraction
Abstraction
What is cultural relativism? First, relativism says "what is true for you, is true for you, and what is true for me, is true for me. Analogously, cultural relativism would say that, "what you believe, value, or practice depends on your culture while what I believe, value, and practice depends on my culture." In other words, cultural relativism is the idea that a person's belief, values, and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another.
Example: Telling a friend not to eat meat on Friday despite not being Catholic.
In this concept, morality vary from culture to culture. Meaning, all culture is equally valid and there is no single culture that we can consider as "best". This is based on the idea that there is no ultimate standard for good and evil, so every judgement about right and wrong is a product of society.
Cultural Relativism vs. Cultural Perspective
Cultural Relativism vs. Cultural Perspective
However, what the cultural relativist fails to see is the difference between cultural perspective and cultural relativism. A perspective is a standpoint or viewpoint of something. For instance, you bought a house. In appreciating your newly bought house, you not only judge its exterior, but also the interior. Meaning, you never judge the design based on only one perspective. In trying to understand one's culture, having a perspective of one's culture, is needed to understand people.
The problem with moving from cultural perspective to cultural relativism is the erosion of reason that it causes. Rather than simply saying, "we need to understand the morals of other cultures," it says, "we cannot judge the morals of other cultures," regardless of the reasons of their actions. It becomes impossible to argue that anything a culture does is right or wrong.