November Blog: Cultural Relativism

In today’s world, it is hard to understand the premise of cultural relativism. It’s hard for me to understand how the Islamic culture, for instance, has any meaningful use in society and how it relates to the Catholic culture I grew up in. After reading James Rachels’ article “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism”, the one thing that stood out to me was when he wrote, “There is no ‘universal truth’ in ethics- that is there are no moral truths that hold for all peoples at all times”(p. 53). I found this statement to not be true as the one thing I found that I could relate to throughout all cultures was the common goal that every culture shared. Each culture’s people are supposed to be set out to have the goal of helping others to advance their culture and people in society. Whether it’s the new, technologically innovative culture of the United States or the rugged Eskimo culture where infants are killed, the common goal of the culture is to further the people’s place in society to increase their chances of surviving. By no means do I agree that killing infants is good, but I can see that the Eskimos do this so no child has to suffer and don’t force others to suffer as well, therefore strengthening the culture instead of hindering it. I can see the common goal of all cultures in Things Fall Apart as two distinctly different cultures both look to strengthen their culture and to help other members’ out. The Umoufia clan, with their sacrifices and war history, use violence to make peace with their Gods so the clan, the families, and their crops can continue to prosper and not falter. Sacrificing a son, like Ikemefuna, keeps the peace so the multiple people can prosper instead of just saving one life. The Christian missionaries, on the other hand, focus on peaceful promises to attract people away from violence and to provide a safe place for the outcasts. Two different cultures both with the same goal to create stability and peace throughout their culture. Personally, I don’t see any positives to killing infants, sacrificing kids, or sending terrorists to kill others for their faith. However, I do see that these actions are believed by these cultures to be actions that better their culture and their society.