Relativism: Is it wrong to judge other cultures? | A-Z of ISMs Episode 18 - BBC Ideas — Transcript

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1. 0:00The A to Z of isms... relativism.
2. 0:03Moral relativism is the view that what's right in one culture
3. 0:07may be wrong in another,
4. 0:09and that there's no way of judging between the two - it's all relative.
5. 0:12There's no absolute truth of the matter.
6. 0:15Different strokes for different folks -
7. 0:17and that's OK.
8. 0:19Imagine a Martian landing on Earth -
9. 0:21she would see that people behave differently in different places.
10. 0:24They've got different moral rules, different social customs.
11. 0:28What's right in one location is wrong in another.
12. 0:32She might well conclude
13. 0:33that there's no such thing as 'the right way to live'
14. 0:36or the 'right thing to do' for everyone at all times.
15. 0:40It's all a matter of cultural norms.
16. 0:43So in parts of Spain, bullfighting is seen as a spectacle,
17. 0:46whereas in many other countries it's considered outrageous cruelty.
18. 0:51Try setting up a bull ring in present-day London, for instance.
19. 0:54If the visiting Martian could get an overview of the history of the world,
20. 0:57she'd see that in Ancient Rome it was fine
21. 0:59to have gladiatorial combat to the death and to own slaves,
22. 1:03but that both practices would be widely frowned upon
23. 1:05in present-day Rome.
24. 1:07Or Amsterdam. Or elsewhere.
25. 1:09Attending fights to the death and keeping slaves
26. 1:11was acceptable for the Romans, but would be wrong in today's Europe.
27. 1:16This sort of relativism has been popular with some anthropologists,
28. 1:19who've attempted to appreciate other cultures from within,
29. 1:22understanding sets of interwoven practices
30. 1:24as responses to particular circumstances and traditions.
31. 1:28They recognise that morality is different in different cultures,
32. 1:32and they often argue that it's ethnocentric
33. 1:35to impose your own set of values elsewhere, as if you know best.
34. 1:40Such non-judgmental relativism might seem attractive,
35. 1:43but think about Nazi Germany.
36. 1:46There it became socially acceptable, and even required,
37. 1:49to treat Jews, homosexuals, and Gypsies as less than human.
38. 1:54This became 'right' there, both legally and morally.
39. 1:58A relativist would simply have to bite the bullet,
40. 2:01and say that that was indeed 'right' for Nazi Germany -
41. 2:04that's what morality meant there -
42. 2:06and that a morality which treats everybody with equal respect
43. 2:09is no better or worse than the Nazi way of doing things -
44. 2:13just different.
45. 2:14Unless you want to embrace that sort of repugnant conclusion,
46. 2:17it's probably best to steer clear of moral relativism.
47. 2:20Some people go further, and say that everything is relative, even truth.
48. 2:25That what is true at one time and one place
49. 2:27isn't true for everyone everywhere.
50. 2:29Or that there's no such thing as objective truth,
51. 2:32just the truth according to me.
52. 2:33We see hints of this in politics today.
53. 2:36There is a big problem with this sort of relativism though,
54. 2:38the theory of relativism itself would have to, on its own account,
55. 2:42be relative.
56. 2:44So the theory that truth is relative couldn't be absolutely true.
57. 2:49Thanks for watching. Don’t forget to subscribe! :)