Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 46 views

    What Is Cultural Ethics

    Uploaded by

    Marlon Silvoza
    This document discusses and evaluates the perspective of cultural ethics. It describes culturalism as the view that moral doctrines are simply the rules and values that a community believes in, with no way to prove one culture's values as inherently better than another's. However, it also argues that culturalism is not necessarily true or persuasive. While culturalism respects other societies, it provides no framework for ethical improvement and does not allow for the possibility that universal ethical standards could be established through reasoned argument.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    What Is Cultural Ethics

    Uploaded by

    Marlon Silvoza
    46 views3 pages
    This document discusses and evaluates the perspective of cultural ethics. It describes culturalism as the view that moral doctrines are simply the rules and values that a community believes in, with no way to prove one culture's values as inherently better than another's. However, it also argues that culturalism is not necessarily true or persuasive. While culturalism respects other societies, it provides no framework for ethical improvement and does not allow for the possibility that universal ethical standards could be established through reasoned argument.

    Original Description:

    Cultural Ethics handouts

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document discusses and evaluates the perspective of cultural ethics. It describes culturalism as the view that moral doctrines are simply the rules and values that a community believes in, with no way to prove one culture's values as inherently better than another's. However, it also argues that culturalism is not necessarily true or persuasive. While culturalism respects other societies, it provides no framework for ethical improvement and does not allow for the possibility that universal ethical standards could be established through reasoned argument.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    46 views3 pages

    What Is Cultural Ethics

    Uploaded by

    Marlon Silvoza
    This document discusses and evaluates the perspective of cultural ethics. It describes culturalism as the view that moral doctrines are simply the rules and values that a community believes in, with no way to prove one culture's values as inherently better than another's. However, it also argues that culturalism is not necessarily true or persuasive. While culturalism respects other societies, it provides no framework for ethical improvement and does not allow for the possibility that universal ethical standards could be established through reasoned argument.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    What Is Cultural Ethics?

    Culturalists embrace the idea that moral doctrines are just the rules a community believes, and they

    accept that there’s no way to prove one society’s values better than another. Culturalists don’t,

    however, follow Nietzsche in taking that as a reason to turn away from all traditional moral regulation;

    instead, it’s a reason to accept and endorse whichever guidelines are currently in effect wherever you

    happen to be. The old adage, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do,” isn’t too far from where we’re at

    here.
    Is Culturalist Ethics True?

    If it’s true that there’s no ethics but the kind a culturalist proposes, then this book loses a good deal of

    its usefulness. It’s lost because the main object is to help readers form and justify rules to guide their

    professional lives. Conceding that the culturalists are right, however, is also admitting that there’s no

    reason to carefully analyze problems: you’re far better served just checking around to see what most

    other people are doing in similar situations. Ethics isn’t a test of your ability to think reasonably and

    independently; it’s more a responsibility to follow the crowd.

    Culturalism isn’t true, however, at least not necessarily. You can see that in the reasoning underneath

    the cultural approach. The reasoning starts with an observation:

    In certain societies, handing money under the table is commonly considered an


    appropriate, ethically respectable part of business activity, and in others it’s considered
    both illegal and unethical.

    And moves quickly to a conclusion:

    Right and wrong in the business world is nothing more than what’s commonly considered
    right and wrong in a specific community.
    On the surface, this argument looks all right, but thinking it through carefully leads to the conclusion

    that it’s not valid. A valid argument is one where the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises.

    For example, if you start from the definition that all unmarried men are bachelors, and then you

    observe that your friend John is an unmarried man, you can, in fact, conclude that he’s a bachelor. You

    must conclude that. But that’s not the situation with the culturalist argument because the

    conclusion doesn’t necessarily follow from the premise. Just because no broad international

    agreement has been reached about what counts as bribery doesn’t mean no agreement will ever be

    reached. Or making the same point more generally, just because no transcultural theory based on

    universal reason has yet to conquer all local beliefs and habits everywhere on the globe doesn’t mean

    no such theory will ever accomplish that goal.

    Taking the same situation in the less ambiguous world of the physical sciences, there was a time when

    some believed the earth centered the sun and planets, while others believed the sun was at the center,

    but that didn’t mean the dispute would linger forever. Eventually, tools were found to convince

    everyone that one side was right. So too in business ethics: one day an enterprising ethicist may find a

    way to indisputably prove on the grounds of a universal and reasonable argument that greasing palms

    is a bribe and not a gift, and it’s immoral, not moral. We don’t know if that will happen, but it might.

    Consequently, the fact that we’re unsure now as to whether any single ethics can deal with the whole

    world doesn’t require shooting to the other extreme and saying there’ll never be anything but what

    people in specific nations believe and that’s it. The culturalist argument, in other words, isn’t

    necessarily persuasive.

    It is worrisome, though. And until someone can find a way to do for ethics what scientists did for the

    question about the earth’s relation to the planets, there will always be individuals who suspect that no

    such proof will ever come. Count Nietzsche among them. In the field of contemporary philosophy and

    ethics, those who share the suspicion—those who doubt that no matter how hard we try we’ll never be

    able to get beyond our basic cultural perspectives and disagreements—belong to a movement

    named postmodernism.
    What Are Some Advantages and Drawbacks of Culturalist Ethics?

    One general advantage of a culturalist ethics is that it allows people to be respectful of others and

    their culture. A deep component of any society’s existence, uniqueness, and dignity in the world is its

    signature moral beliefs, what the people find right and wrong. A culturalist takes that identity

    seriously and makes no attempt to change or interfere. More, a culturalist explicitly acknowledges

    that there’s no way to compare one culture against another as better and worse. Though you

    can describe differences, you can’t say one set of moral truths is better than another because all

    moral truths are nothing more than what a society chooses to believe.

    The Disadvantages

    The major disadvantage of a culturalist ethics is that it doesn’t leave any clear path to making things

    better. If a community’s recommended ethical compass is just their customs and normal practices,

    then it’s difficult to see how certain ingrained habits—say business bribery—can be picked up,

    examined, and then rejected as unethical. In fact, there’s no reason why bribery should be examined

    at all. Since moral right and wrong is just what the locals do, it makes no sense to try to change

    anything.

    KEY TAKEAWAYS

    • Proponents of cultural ethics embrace the idea that moral doctrines are just the rules, beliefs, and

    customs of specific communities.

    • Doing the right thing within a culturalist framework relies less on traditional ethical reasoning and

    more on detecting local habits.

    • The culturalist view of ethics is neither true nor false. It’s a reaction to the world as it is: a place with

    vastly divergent sets of moral codes.

    • A culturalist ethics respects other societies and their practices but loses solid hope for ethical

    progress.

    You might also like