According to James Rachels, the core of ethics is that people should not think that every cultural practice is based upon objective and rational standards. The researcher believes it is essential to be open-minded and avoid being judgmental, considering the ethics of each culture and their national interests (Nastiuk). Giving every culture’s interest equal weight is a key to escape from delusions, misconceptions, and hatred.
Many situations can be justified by moral relativism, which assumes that there is neither good nor evil in every culture, but instead, there is a subjective norm. For instance, several years ago, there was a high-profile crime in Moscow, Russia when three sisters killed their father because he has sexually abused them for a long time. From the point of view of moral relativism, it is necessary to look at the context of what happened. In terms of moral relativism, any punishment should be annulled for the girls because their father committed cruel actions and expressed total humiliation towards his own daughters.
On the contrary, moral absolutism is the statement about the existence of only one source of moral norms, the significance of which is recognized as universal and unlimited. It is widely believed that no human can be subject to violence. In particular, there has been much attention to abuse among females. For instance, one of the most popular directors, Harvey Weinstein, was accused of sexual abuse against actresses that he worked with. People thought he deserved severe punishment for ruining the lives of young actresses. From the absolutist perspective, no cruel acts can be committed against a person; hence, the offender needs to be penalized. This phenomenon is perceived as an absolutely and undeniably immoral in modern society, regardless of the beliefs and traditions of the culture in which they are manifested.
Reference
“Is Morality Relative.”YouTube, uploaded by Frankiln Nastiuk, 2020. Web.