Cultural relativism definition

Cultural relativism is the idea that beliefs are affected by and best understood within the context of culture. It is a theory and a tool used by anthropologists and social scientists for recognizing the natural tendency to judge other cultures in comparison to their own and for adequately collecting and analyzing information about other cultures, without this bias.

Cultural relativism definition ap human geography

Cultural relativism was born out of and can also be applied to epistemology, which is the philosophical study of human knowledge. Empiricism is the theory that knowledge and understanding come from experience with the world. Cognitive relativists claim that differing belief systems are equally valuable, such as theories about what exists and how people interact with the world.

Moral relativism is often mistakenly assumed to be the same concept as cultural relativism. While there are similarities, there are also key differences. Relativistic moral judgments are determined relative or according to the values and beliefs held by a particular culture. In the extreme sense this implies that there is no universal right and wrong in ethics.

Most ethicists consider relativistic theories to be inferior to stricter normative, or rule-directed, theories that prescribe how a person ought to act. If there is no absolute right and wrong, then there is no purpose in debating ethical questions. Morality would be empty and instead just describe how people act rather than how they ought to act.