Essays on Cultural Relativism

In order to ensure peace and prosperity of a country, most governments have employed the use of stringent rules and regulations to govern people. However, some people stray away from the common perception of government and embrace anarchy. Anarchy is basically opposite of what the government stands for, anarchism is a political ideology (Carter, 1971) that holds the state undesirable and harmful while advocating for stateless institutions. The view of anarchists stray away from the commons masses and more often they tend to go extreme and cause social disturbance and unrest (Gage, 2009)as was the case of the ...

Relativism can be in the form of empirical or normative and tends to relate to judgments an individual makes regarding a particular phenomenon (Siame 45). It is commonplace to have an observation that the globe consists of varying cultures and this clash on specific moral judgments. On the other hand, Li (151) asserts that cultures are different in many ways, but this does not constitute cultural relativism. Cultural relativists would assert that culture involves unchanging set of societal arrangements. Culture is itself a system that defines how a particular group of people have organized themselves in order to preserve ...

Introduction

According to cultural relativism, it is the view that there are no higher or lower cultures in all cultural and moral aspects ("Cultural Relativism", 2016). It is difficult to look at your own culture the way other cultures see it. In the article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” Horace Miner describes American people in a satiric way, so it is not easy for readers to understand it. But it is the main strength or his article and he is not afraid to show his culture the way they always describe others. It is unfair to describe traditions of other ...

Affiliated Institution

Introduction In order to understand the cultural practices of other people and our own without being affected by ethnocentrism, we can use the guideline of cultural relativism. Cultural relativism is about understanding the cultural practices of other cultures by examining them from the contexts of those who practice them. Similarly, we can understand our cultural practices better by examining them from the context of others or outsiders. Ethnocentrism pushes a person to perceive his/her culture as superior to others, making it difficult to understand other cultures. This also makes it difficult to understand another culture from an emic perspective ...

In describing the various rituals of the “Nacirema” culture, Horace Miner is attempting to show how the “Nacirema” culture, as Miner satirically spells “American”, can be viewed as primitive through the lens of an anthropologist. Yet, the American culture, in general, regards itself as much more advanced than other civilizations (Miner). Such ethnocentrism gives American – and Western – anthropologists the license to view other civilizations as primitive -- as being consumed by superstition and magic. Thus, in much anthropological research, there is a great deal of cultural relativism at work. Of course, the anthropologist views his culture as superior, yet ...

The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941. This tragedy resulted in the United States declaring war on Japan, Germany and Italy. But an even more saddening thing happened in those days to Japanese-Americans who in the shake of a hand lost trust of their American fellow countrymen. The relocation of the former into internment camps located in other states, away from their homes at the West Coast, is now the question for ethical debates. Can this internment be morally justified? The question is controversial. On one hand, from the point of view of the government of the attacked ...

Race and ethnicity are defining characteristics in modern society, and although progress has been made to reduce disparities and enforce equity among all groups, inequalities still exist. These inequalities are deeply rooted in American society and often mislabeled as racism, racial bigotry, or sexism. Because society seeks the ultimate equality, the second feminist movement has gone overboard in ensuring the equitable treatment of all groups. Fixing the problem of equality is not something that is possible by forcing all groups to be the same, when differences will always exist and arguably should exist. The feminist movement initiated as a ...

According to Pojman (2006), hedonistic utilitarianism is one of the major perspectives of the general notion of utilitarianism. In order to understand its essence, it is imperative to discuss the underlying meaning of utilitarianism as advanced by Pojman (2006) who indicates that it is pegged on the end results rather than the process or means an act is performed, and which is responsible for causing maximum satisfaction to the greatest number of individuals. In this regard, two major views in utilitarianism are fronted by Jeremy Bentham. According to Bentham, utilitarianism adopts two main features, a teleological aspect, and a ...

Comparison of the referenced articles pinpoint some major contradictions in the accuracy of feminist theory as it pertains to developed and developing countries, as well as the categorization of women as individuals in a globally relative perspective. Both authors aim to address the discursive practice of ignoring cultural relativism through upholding the image of Westernized women as the ideal woman; an ideology that is further instilled through feminist scholarship. Chandre Talpade Mohanty goes into detail about the categorization of women and how ideologies are falsely globalized and attempts are made to implement these ideologies across cultural boundaries. This ideological ...

Final Portfolio Projects

Introduction The first project is from Chapter One: Introducing Linguistic Anthropology and involved asking people around me about what their opinion was regarding some popularly held notions about languages, and how the level of sophistication of a language is correlated with how civilized a people are perceived to be. The second project is from Chapter Twelve: Language, Culture, and Thought and explores the differences between cultural relativism and universalism in analysing various aspects of a culture. The third project is from Chapter Nine: Languages In Variation and Languages In Contact and pertains to the increasing usage of English language ...

The epistolary novel by Charles de Secondat baron de Montesquieu, the “Persian Letters” gives a reflection of the eighteenth century society. It is therefore a critical primary source in regard to eighteenth century history considering the major changes of historical significance that were taking place at the time. One such change was the dawn of the age of enlightenment also referred to as the age of reason. The historical perspective of the novel may be lost because of Montesquieu’s extensive use of satire. However, it is intended to draw the attention of the reader towards the primary themes ...

Eugenics entails how sexual reproduction can be restructured. Positive eugenics entails the restructuring of sexual reproduction to enhance sexual reproduction of persons with preferred traits. Alteration of sexual reproduction to reduce the sexual reproduction of persons with negative traits is negative eugenics. Deductively, the case in case study one is a case of negative eugenics because it entails the modification of sexual reproduction to promote the sexual reproduction of a child who is free from Huntington’s Disease, which is an undesirable trait. It would be acceptable for the married couple in case study one to select the sex ...

Cultural Relativism can be defined as the principle that a person’s belief and activities should be understood regarding his or her culture. Among some of the most fundamental rights is the freedom of worship and religion. In most countries, there is freedom of worship. One cannot be forced to abide by a particular religion just because the law in that country believes in a different religion. Many times you hear the discussion about cultural relativism versus the universal rights and democracies. In countries like Saudi Arabia, the conference is considered as an unnecessary waste of valuable time ("Saudi ...

The underlying makeup of human nature has been a primary focus of many philosophers throughout history, particularly the relationship between the individual and culture. According to noted psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud in Civilization and its Discontents, civilization is made up of individuals, each with their own anxieties and personality traits, their own needs and priorities being the essential focus of human nature. However, Ruth Benedict is much more focused on culture as the vehicle that establishes consistent actions and thought patterns that can be found within societies, each of which must be accepted and tolerated as individual to them. Comparing ...

Moral and cultural relativism attempts to draw the relationship between the differences contained in moral judgments and cultural practices across diverse cultures. It supposes that what is right or wrong, or what is moral or not moral can only be determined through a subjective approach as what is moral or right to one person may not necessarily be so to the other. Allan Bloom in his book The choosing of the American mind; How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished The souls of Today’s Students(1987) explains that an average American Student is a moral relativist and believes that ...