Would You Like to be Limited?

Woot! First time actually posting something I’ve written. No more having Timmy do it for me. Anyway, once again my Modern World History teacher has given me a chance to mess with him. And yes I enjoy doing this way too much so by all means enjoy.

Limits to Cultures

I believe there are no limits to cultural relativism because if there are limits then it is not cultural relativism anymore, at some level there is a logical reason for everything, and a lack of a thing that would determine limits if there were limits.

Dictionary.com defines cultural relativism as a noun meaning “the concept that the importance of a particular cultural idea varies from one society or societal subgroup to another, the view that ethical and moral standards are relative to what a particular society or culture believes to be good/bad, right/wrong”. By that definition it is impossible for cultural relativism to involve any limits while still continuing to be cultural relativism. However if that definition is believed to allow limits in another culture then there might be some conflict because by that definition they are allowed to think that way and can’t have limits imposed on it. If this definition is looked at as a fact though then there is no way to impose limits on a culture for whatever reason.

Some cultures kill a twin baby. They do this for a reason unbeknown to me, but there is a reason for it. Now it’s fairly likely this reason is also not acceptable within our culture. However if you keep looking at the reasons behind the reasons you’ll almost surely find a reason that is also a reason for something in our culture. How odd we find them killing that baby is how odd they find us not killing that baby.

Nothing exists that would determine limits if they existed. One culture can’t determine limits because all cultures have the same rights. To impose limits on a culture the imposer must be better than the culture and according to the definition of cultural relativism no culture is better than another and therefore can’t impose limits on another.

I have stated my reasons for there not being limits on cultural relativism. There are many other reasons for and against there being limits. None of these beliefs are right or wrong, everyone has their reasons for what they think, and deep down the reasons are all similar. I believe my way, you believe your way, and Bob believes something entirely different.

-Fizzzard

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