Cultural Relativism: A Theory Of Ethical Action

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Ever since we were kids and became aware of our surroundings, our parents and elders have instilled in us a fundamental awareness of what is right and wrong. It is actually an inherent trait of all humans and grows from our desire to get along well with each other in order to live a peaceful life. To achieve this way of life we understand that we must do to other people what we expect them to do to us in return. We try very hard to do what we feel and see as the right things to do in certain situations. This is the foundation of ethics. They are rules of conduct that shows how our society expects us to behave and are the guiding principles behind the creation of laws.
Normative Ethics- Is the study of ethical action. A theory of ethics that …show more content…
Morality comes from cultural traditions, habits, and what the majority believes to be right and wrong. Cultural relativism as an explanation for the morals of human beings is a logical and convincing idea. According to the theory, people base their individual thoughts, actions and beliefs on the morals of the society in which they are a part. The individual builds their own morality around what society believes is good, bad, right or wrong. Society sets its own morals by choosing a direction in one way or another on a certain belief. This belief is then incorporated into society and becomes the norm. Anything not considered to be moral is tossed aside and considered to be abnormal. This is what the theory of cultural relativism is based on. It is an explanation of why different societies have different ideas concerning morals. Views as to what is good and what is bad changes from culture to culture. For example, the society in which we live believes it is morally acceptable to eat animals, and we see no harm in that. Another society might believe that the eating of animals is inhumane and thus immoral. The two societies disagree as to what is right or wrong, moral or immoral on the behavior of eating animals, and cultural relativism explains why. The norms of a society are the standards by which to …show more content…
Ethics do not have punishments, fines or associated penalties when people fail to abide by them while laws do. Both set standards of expected societal actions, but laws enforce actions while ethics set forth social guidelines. Laws and ethics are found in every society to some form. They govern actions of individuals around the United States and the world on a daily basis. Laws and ethics often work hand-in-hand to ensure that citizens act in a certain manner, and likewise coordinate efforts to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. Most ethics are established at the national level so there are no set penalties for violations of civil codes. Many schools and companies have rules that coordinate with a code of ethics, and these institutions may impose penalties on individuals who violate those rules. In most cases laws are created based on ethical codes. This is to establish a minimal level of safety and expected behavior which makes the action of establishing new laws easier because of our
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