philosophy

Philosophy

Cultural relativism states that a culture of an individual has a direct influence on his modes of thought and perception of reality . In the early decades of the twentieth century culture was seen an unlimited force of the civilization that had an option to develop and shape individuals . American anthropologist , Ruth Benedict defined it as following

No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes . He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking . Even in his philosophical probings he cannot go

behind these stereotypes .The life-history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community . From the moment of his birth the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behaviour . By the time he can talk , he is the little creature of his culture , and by the time he is grown and able to take part in its activities , its habits are his habits , its beliefs his beliefs , its impossibilities his impossibilities . Every child that is born into his group will share them with him , and no child born into one on the opposite side of the globe can ever achieve the thousandth part (Patterns of Culture . Boston : Houghton Mifflin1934 , pp . 2-3

Benedict explained her views as following

Every culture has a diverse range of temperament types of an individual that can be observed universally

Even though that there exist a variety of temperament types , there exist a limited number of them that suit a defenite culture and fit its orientation

The majority of individuals in any society will obey to the dominant society stereotypes and accepted types of temperament , even though that their temperament may be different

A minority of individuals in any society that will not fit to the standards of the society , because their different temperament types will be deviants ' or abnormals ' for that society

The classification of individuals to normal ' and abnormal ' is based on the specific particularities of the society . To be more specific it means that if a certain action is allowed by the moral code of a society , then this action can be considered to be right within that particular society

Even so that there had been done a lot of research in this area , it 's still not clear and not fully understood why the existing cultural differences don 't influence that much on cognition of different cultures

Even that it looks easy to accept cultural relativism still it carries some of unsolved and contradictive consequences . For example accepting cultural relativism at face value , one cannot criticize the moral code of another society or of his own . Once an individual feels that moral codes need to be improved or changed , cultural relativism won 't allow to do so , because it contradicts the principles of the society and from this angle it can be considered as a limiter of moral progress , which is essential for every society

Cultural relativism seems to be basic and easy acceptable form many perspectives , but still it has a lot of limitations , by leaving no space to certain practices that may be considered inappropriate by the society . But it 's positive function is that it teaches to be more open-minded and to accept moral codes and traditions of other societies...