Philosophical Implications of Cultural Relativism

Philosophical Implications of Cultural Relativism Philosophical position of Cultural Relativism is best understood in terms of its epistemological, ethical and logical implications. Philosophical means articulation, argumentation, analysis, and synthesis of the idea, principle or concept. [1] Implication is a relationship between two propositions that holds when both propositions are true and fails when the first is true but the second is false. It is to develop a logical cohesion among arguments for implicit understanding of idea or principle and something else without expressing it directly. â€Å"Philosophical implications of cultural relativism†, suggests to put the idea of cultural relativism in clear, concise and readily understandable†¦show more content†¦It is ethnocentrism that which gives people their sense of peoplehood, group identity, and place in history-all of which are valuable traits to possess. Ethnocentrism becomes negative when ones own group becomes the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it. It reaches its extreme negative form when a more powerful group not only imposes its rule on another, but actively depreciates the things they hold to be of value. [5] The holocaust and the genocide of the American Indian are all examples of this third level of ethnocentrism. We are ethnocentric when we use our cultural norms to make generalizations about other peoples cultures and customs. Franz Boas argued that any human science had to transcend the ethnocentrism of the scientist. Boas urged to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in order to overcome their ethnocentrism. Boas developed the principle of cultural relativism as a tool for developing non-ethnocentric studies of different societies. Hence in a rapidly changing world society where people are in closer interaction with each other comprises of both negative attitudes towards other cultures and/or ethnic groups arise out of ethnocentrism, while positive attitudes are the result of a culturally relativist approach. 3.2 Epistemological analysis of Cultural Relativism The epistemological issues associated with cultural relativism have been hotly debated within and without anthropology throughout theShow MoreRelated Cultural Relativism vs. Ethnocentism - which is more objective?1042 Words   |  5 Pagesultimately subjective, as our perceptions of cultural differences are shaped largely by our immersion in our own culture. An ethnocentric approach stems from judging an alternate culture in relation to one’s own pre-conceived cultural values, held to be superior; the parallax phenomenon, the inability to escape our own biases, prevents objective analysis of different cultures. 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