Cultural Relativism: Objective Right Or Wrong

Cultural Relativism states that there is no objective right or wrong. Right or wrong are defined by your society’s moral code. I will provide reasons why we should not be cultural relativists. My reasons include; how it affects philosophy, the Cultural Differences Argument, examples of why it doesn’t work and societal needs.

James Rachels supplies six claims that have been made by cultural relativists.
1. Different societies have different moral codes.
2. The moral code of a society determines what is right within that society; that is, if the moral code of a society says that a certain action is right, then that action is right, at least within that society.
3. There is no objective standard that can be used to judge one society’s code

An example of this argument is that, in parts of Africa female circumcision (or female genital mutilation) is a regular practice. In most “western” societies it is considered abhorrent. To a cultural relativist, female circumcision is neither objectively right nor wrong, it is just a matter of opinion that varies from culture to culture. This argument states that since different groups of people disagree about something, there is no right or wrong-it just depends on where you are from. The problem with this argument is that it draws a substantial conclusion from people’s opinions. The simple fact of the matter is that people’s opinions may lead to a wrong conclusion. One or both groups of people might be wrong in their beliefs. Since the premises of both African and western cultural beliefs on this issue can both be true while the conclusion can be false, the cultural differences argument is invalid and therefore also unsound. Although this argument is invalid it does not disprove cultural relativism, however it does mean that the argument cannot be used to prove cultural

An example of where this goes wrong is the holocaust. During the holocaust approximately six million Jewish people were killed in concentration camps and many more were forced from their homes and communities. The cultural relativist would say these actions were neither right nor wrong, merely a difference in two society’s moral codes. Another example is the recent attack in Paris. The terrorist group ISIS launched attacks in the city of Paris, killing 129 people and injuring many more. Many countries such as Germany, the US, Australia and Spain have spoken out against these attacks. According to cultural relativism, this action was neither right nor wrong because that’s what is considered morally right in that group. In fact according to the cultural relativist, the people who spoke out against these attacks are in the wrong because “It is mere arrogance for us to try to judge the conduct of other peoples” (James Rachels, The Elements Of Philosophy pg.