Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1.
Just because two societies do have different views about right and wrong doesn't imply
that they ought to have different views.
Perhaps one society has good guidelines and another has bad guidelines. Perhaps
neither society has good guidelines.
Suppose two societies are suffering from a severe drought. The first society con-
structs an aqueduct to carry water to the affected cities. The second society makes
human sacrifices to appease the rain god. Are both “solutions” equally acceptable?
No, they are not. Yet, if we accept cultural relativism, we cannot speak out against
this wrongdoing, because no person in one society can make any statements about
the morality of another society.
2.
Cultural relativism does not explain how an individual determines the moral guidelines
of a particular society.
Suppose I am new to a society and I understand I am supposed to abide by its moral
guidelines. How do I determine what those guidelines are?
One approach would be to poll other people, but this begs the question. Here's
why. Suppose I ask other people whether the society considers a particular action to
be morally acceptable. I'm not interested in knowing whether they feel personally
that the action is right or wrong. I want them to tell me whether the society as a
whole thinks the action is moral. That puts the people I poll in the same position
I'm in—trying to determine the moral guidelines of a society. How are they to know
whether the action is right or wrong?
Perhaps the guidelines are summarized in the society's laws, but laws take time
to enact. Hence the legal code reflects at best the moral guidelines of the same
society at some point in the past, but that's not the same society I am living in
today, because the morals of any society change over time. That leads us to our next
objection.
3.
Cultural relativism does not explain how to determine right from wrong when there are
no cultural norms.
Sometimes different groups within a society disagree about whether a particular ac-
tion is right or wrong. This situation often occurs when a new technology emerges.
For example, the Internet has made possible massive exchanges of digitized infor-
mation. Millions of Americans seem to think sharing copyrighted music is okay, but
other groups insist this activity is nothing more than stealing. Who is correct?
4.
Cultural relativism does not do a good job of characterizing actions when moral guide-
lines evolve.
Until the 1960s many southern American states had segregated universities. Today
these universities are integrated. This change in attitudes was accelerated by the
actions of a few brave people of color who challenged the status quo and enrolled in
universities that had been the exclusive preserve of white students. At the time these
students were doing what they “ought not” to have done; they were doing something
wrong according to the moral guidelines of the time. By today's standards they did
