Answer to Question 1Moral isolationists (cultural relativists) commonly make the claim that we cannot understand any culture except our own well enough to make judgments about it. This implies, however, several claims which moral isolationists do not usually acknowledge. These are: (1) that other cultures cannot criticize us, (2) that it is impossible to ever praise another culture, (3) that anthropologists will be unable to understand other cultures, and (4) that we cannot judge our own culture.
Moral isolationism, when carefully thought through, results in moral nihilism, since it reduces all moral judgements to trivial local quirks of one's own culture.
It is impossible to respect something that is entirely unintelligible. To the degree that one insists that other cultures must be respected and tolerated, one must deny moral isolationism.
There is no such thing as separate, unmixable cultures and hence the view that, in principle, it is impossible to understand evaluate cultures other than our own must be mistaken.
Answer to Question 2The ethics of business are impersonal game ethics. No one should condemn business because its standards of right and wrong differ from the prevailing traditions of morality in society.
- Just as the ethics of ordinary morality are suspended in games, so they are suspended in business. A business person is not, therefore, immoral if she does not follow ordinary morality in the course of doing business.
- It is impossible to be successful in business if one applies the ethical standards of private life. Therefore business people are entitled to conduct business on a different standard of morality.
A person might have serious qualms about some of the seemingly immoral activities associated with business and not be able to reconcile the activities that take place in business with his personal beliefs.
The morality of business practices cannot be judged on the standards of private morality. So long as a business practice is legal and produces a profit it is morally acceptable.
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