Deck 6: Cultural Relativism: Is Morality Dependent on Culture

Question 1

_____ maintains that morality is created collectively by groups of humans and that morality therefore differs from culture to culture.

A) Ethical subjectivism
B) Skepticism
C) Empiricism
D) Cultural relativism

Answer 1

Cultural relativism

Question 2

During their exploration of Mars, American scientists discover what they label a "stone age" society of humans living in caves just under the surface. The people, who are peace loving and welcoming toward the visitors from earth, have no written language or organized religion. Also, they do not have weapons or a concept of war. Which of the following assessments would a social Darwinist most likely make regarding the morality of this society?

A) They are clearly more morally advanced than earth's culture because they are trusting and nonviolent.
B) They are clearly morally inferior to earth's cultures because their culture is primitive and lacks both technology and a belief in God.
C) Because culture is the source of morality, their culture cannot be judged as either morally superior or morally inferior to earth's cultures, but simply as different.
D) Because morality is a meaningless concept, this question is also meaningless.

Answer 2

They are clearly morally inferior to earth's cultures because their culture is primitive and lacks both technology and a belief in God.

Question 3

According to anthropologist Ruth Benedict, which of the following does not exist?

A) universal moral principles
B) cultural moral standards
C) sociological factors that influence morals
D) geographic differences in the development of cultures

Answer 3

universal moral principles

Question 4

You see a laptop on a table in the library. No one is around. You would love to have a laptop but cannot afford one. If you were a cultural relativist, you would most likely:

A) refrain from stealing it because it is against the law.
B) refrain from taking it because you are afraid you might get caught.
C) refrain from taking it because you would not like it if someone stole a laptop from you.
D) take it because you feel that stealing is personally right for you.

Question 5

Cultural relativists rejected social Darwinism because, unlike social Darwinists, they believed that:

A) there are significant differences between Western and non-Western cultures.
B) the fact that a culture believes something is morally right does not imply that it is morally right.
C) Darwin's theory of evolution is false.
D) Darwin's theory of evolution does not imply that primitive cultures are less morally evolved.

Question 6

What event led to a general disillusionment with the theory of cultural relativism?

A) the Nazi Holocaust
B) the development of social Darwinism
C) the formation of the United Nations
D) the increased use of fieldwork among anthropologists

Question 7

According to anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn, which of the following moral values is transcultural?

A) monogamous marriage
B) a prohibition of violence against people outside the community
C) a prohibition against indiscriminate lying
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 8

In the context of cultural and sociological relativism, which of the following statements defines descriptive ethics?

A) It rethinks traditional ethics to remove sexist ethical beliefs that depict women as morally inferior to men.
B) It is a theory that argues that Western society is ethically superior to African and Eastern societies.
C) It describes the moral beliefs of a given society without passing judgment on them.
D) It suggests that people have a natural tendency to adapt to their environment.

Question 9

Henry believes that it is morally acceptable to impose Western culture's way of thinking on the tribal cultures in Southeast Asia. He argues that the social and technological progress of Western culture makes it clearly superior to tribal cultures. Henry believes these tribes are backward and unsophisticated because they follow ancient traditional practices based on nature worship. The views expressed by Henry reflect those of a:

A) social Darwinist.
B) cultural relativist.
C) sociological relativist.
D) psychological egotist.

Question 10

Which of the following beings, if any, would cultural relativists in the United States include in their moral community?

A) three-month-old human fetuses
B) women
C) chickens
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 11

In the context of cultural relativism, when using a mandala to represent a culture's moral community, beings represented on the outermost edge of the mandala are:

A) believed to have transcended the bindings of the material world.
B) considered morally inferior to beings toward the center of the mandala.
C) approaching apotheosis, or ascendance to godhood.
D) free and equal members of a moral society.

Question 12

According to Eagle Man (Ed McGaa) and Ibn Khaldun, _____.

A) we should not pass judgment on other cultures' moral values
B) some cultures are more moral than others
C) personal feelings are the ultimate source of moral value
D) culture has little or no influence on people's moral behavior

Question 13

At his trial, why did Nazi Adolf Eichmann argue that he had done nothing wrong?

A) He was being falsely accused of committing acts that he had not committed.
B) He believed morality was a private choice.
C) He did not break any laws of his country.
D) He was coerced into doing what he had done because his family would have been sent to prison or exterminated if he had not followed orders.

Question 14

Which of the following people would a cultural relativist be most likely to label immoral?

A) Thomas Jefferson (for owning slaves)
B) Martin Luther King Jr.
C) defenders of Roe v. Wade (the U.S. Supreme court ruling legalizing abortion)
D) Adolf Eichmann

Question 15

One of the weaknesses of cultural relativism as an explanation of morality is that:

A) people tend to behave more morally when they are in a group.
B) people tend to behave more morally when they are alone.
C) people's moral behavior is not influenced at all by cultural norms.
D) there is no disagreement among cultures about what is right and what is wrong.

Question 16

Which of the following is most likely to follow as a result of adopting cultural relativism?

A) greater acceptance of constructive criticism of one's own cultural norms
B) respect and tolerance for the norms and values of different cultures
C) suspicion and distrust of the norms and values of different cultures
D) the disappearance of disagreement in a pluralist society regarding moral values

Question 17

Identify the person who said each of the following.

-"We recognize that morality differs in every society, and is a convenient term for socially approved habits."

A) Jean-Jacques Rousseau
B) Frederick Douglass
C) Ibn Khaldun
D) Ruth Benedict

Question 18

Identify the person who said each of the following.

-"[O]ur survival is dependent on the realization that Mother Earth is a truly holy being, that all things in this world are holy and must not be violated, and that we must share and be generous with one another." Which of the following persons is most likely to have made this statement?

A) Herbert Spencer
B) Charles Dickens
C) Adolf Eichmann
D) Eagle Man (Ed McGaa)

Question 19

Identify the person who said each of the following.

-"We have seen that the adjustments of acts to ends... have been rising to a certain ideal form now approached by the civilized man."

A) Ruth Benedict
B) Herbert Spencer
C) Jean-Jacques Rousseau
D) John Fire Lame Deer