The Challenge of Cultural Relativism

The Challenge of Cultural Relativism

“Cultural Relativism is a theory about the nature of morality. At first blush it seems quite plausible. However like all such theories, it may be evaluated by subjecting it to rational analysis; and when we analyze Cultural Relativism we find that it is not so plausible as it first appears to be.” With that being said, I agree there is no right or wrong method on how different cultures run things, it is all based on the culture and their morals. According to James Rachels in The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, “Different cultures have different moral codes.” Throughout The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, Rachels argues that Cultures all over the world have many different moral codes, but in the end their moral codes are generally quite similar to one another. Throughout The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, the argument that one may believe that you should eat your dead while another is disgusted by the idea has a strong message, It does not make one belief wrong and the other belief right but it is simply the way some people grew up and the culture which they choose to follow. The Christian missionaries in Things Fall Apart overlooked that cultural richness of the Igbo culture, believing that they were morally superior to the Igbo people and that their culture was superior to the Igbo culture. Their attempt in trying to transform the Igbo people into something more European goes to show the destruction of something beautiful (Igbo culture). It isn’t that the missionaries want to help improve Igbo civilization, but they actually believe the Igbo are inferior and that their entire culture needs to be erased and then rebuilt in the eyes of a Christian. In class throughout the hero unit, the question was raised towards the end of each novel, whether we thought the hero in each work was a true hero or not. For each literary work it all came down to perspective, looking at each hero from the perspective of a regular person from the specific culture. Throughout the novel Things Fall Apart, because of the way Okonkwo had treated his family, particularly his wives and children. Because we are accustomed the immorality in domestic abuse, it was very hard to argue in favor of Okonkwo as a true hero in society, even if beating your wife is okay in the Igbo culture it is not the morally correct way to resolve a situation. Back in 2009 when Chris Brown beat his girlfriend Rihanna there was nothing heroic about this, Brown also faced five years of probation and had the choice of either jail time or community service while Okonkwo did not face any of the charges Brown did. Because “Different cultures have different moral codes” Domestic Violence was not something as serious to the Igbo people while it still remains as something very serious in the American culture. Although Okonkwo was high in his society due to the fact that he had previously defeated “The Cat,” his high success with the yams, and the fact that he had several wives, In our Socratic Seminar we agreed he wouldn't be high in our society because we thought that he did not achieve anything heroic in order to achieve such great power in the Igbo culture. There was a great deal of disagreement and discussion when it came to Oknokwo because of the fact that he is defined as a modern hero according to the “Heroes in Society : The Modern Hero” handout that we had previously been given in class,  but it became difficult to argue that Okonkwo was a hero in our society due to the fact that he had beat his wives and he never really helped others. Although, if you look at the definition of a modern hero he fits. He is a character that has weakness.