Rachels and Midgeley on Cultural Relativism
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Cultural Relativism
James Rachels asserts that Cultural Relativism is an intriguing idea certainly worth discussing, but eventually condemns it because its basic ideas are flawed. In "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism," he outspokenly disagrees with its principles yet ultimately points out what it can teach us. Mary Midgley refutes some of Cultural Relativism's basic principles in her condemnation of moral isolationism, "Trying Out One's New Sword." As both philosophers would contend, the arguments for Cultural Relativism are inherently flawed, and through examination of their opinions and an offering of my own I will show that this is indeed true, and that Cultural Relativism is an intriguing yet ultimately implausible theory.
Rachels presents a barrage of arguments against Cultural Relativism, which are headlined by his presentation of the "Cultural Differences Argument." He states that "the strategy used by cultural relativists is to argue from facts about the differences between cultural outlooks to a conclusion about the status of morality" (Rachels, 19) and eventually goes on to say that this argument is not logically sound in that the conclusion does not follow from the premise. The conclusion concerns what is really the case in the matter, and from Cultural Relativism, he says, the conclusion we draw is that something is neither right or wrong; the simple fact that two societies believe different things does not negate the presence of objective truth in the matter because one could simply be right and the other mistaken. This, he claims, is the fundamental flaw in Cultural Relativism's "Cultural Differences Argument""it attempts to derive a substantive conclusion about a subject from the mere fact that people disagree about it" (Rachels, 21).
He then explains the consequences of taking Cultural Relativism seriously. One consequence is the inability to claim that other societies' customs are morally inferior to our own, which would prevent us from condemning the practices of the Nazi's or slave-owners...