Answer to Question 1
- Cultural relativism: The view that cultural norms determine what is ethically right and wrong. Ethical subjectivism on a societal or cultural level.
- Ruth Benedict advocated cultural relativism and attempted to apply individual psychological concepts to whole groups. For Benedict, the term morality should be defined as socially approved customsnothing more, nothing less. There are no universal values that we can use to evaluate the moral values of any culture; there are only the moral values that each culture creates.
- Benedict (and other social scientists such as Emile Durkheim, Franz Boas, and William Graham Sumner) were reacting to what they perceived to be the cultural imperialism of the Westthe assumption by some that the moral values of Western Europe and America were morally superior to the moral values of more primitive cultures.
Answer to Question 2
- Ethical subjectivism: The view that the ultimate moral authority is the individual or the subject.
- Attractions include feeling independent, romantic notions of being true to yourself, and the feeling of being tolerant and open-minded (i.e. live and let live).
- Downfall: Ethical subjectivism does not guarantee tolerant acceptance of the rights and interests of others.
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