Vol. 18 No. 2 (2021): Volume 18, Number 2 – 2021
Original Article

Cultural Relativism vs. Cultural Absolutism

Seungbae PARK
Professor, School of Liberal Arts, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulju-gun, Ulsan 44919, The Republic of Korea

Published 2021-03-30

Keywords

  • Cultural Absolutism, Cultural Relativism, Morality, Motion, Ockham’s Razor

Abstract

I defend cultural relativism against the following objections: (i) The analogy between motion and morality is flawed. (ii) Cultural relativism has greater potential to be harmful to our daily lives than is cultural absolutism. (iii) We made moral progress when we moved from slavery to equality. (iv) There are some moral principles that are accepted by all cultures around the world. (v) Moral argumentation is impossible within the framework of cultural relativism. (vi) We construct arguments for and against cultures.