An Argument Supporting Cultural Relativism in Rachels' Dissemination of Morality

Every culture has its own customs, traditions and beliefs that dictate the actions of its citizens. Cultural relativism states that although practices and ethical beliefs differ from society to society, it must be accepted as good, relative to each respective culture’s beliefs and moral code. A cultural relativist believes that what can be seen as a heinous act in one culture may in fact be totally acceptable or even looked upon as a good act, in another; and rightly so, that cultural relativist would argue. 

In The Elements of Moral Philosophy, James Rachels argues that the cultural relativist point of view does not take into account the lack of rationale for the argument. He argues that at the root of some controversial customs and actions, the culture which practices the deed actually holds the same basic moral and ethical beliefs as the culture which balked at it. (Rachels, 23) 

He uses as an example the Eskimos. It was found through anthropologic research that it was ethically acceptable in the Eskimo culture to practice infanticide. This act, to our culture, would be shunned as barbaric, and, given no more information than the fact that it is practiced, many would agree. Rachels then proceeds to delve further and explain the reasoning behind the practice. He found that killing one’s baby was a last resort, for example, when the life of another child was at stake, because a mother can only provide nourishment for so many children. In essence, the Eskimos would only sacrifice the life of a child in order to ensure the life of another, and therefore ensuring that their tribe would not die out. (Rachels, 17) 

Rachels basically argues that there is no true need for the theory of cultural relativism at all because many actions can, at their root cause, be justified. Not only can most actions be justified, the reasoning used can be correlated with the ethical and moral beliefs of most cultures, as well. This is a flawed point of view for a few reasons.