ETHICS

&
CULTURE
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INTRODUCTION
Many people get their ethical or

moral views from their culture.

In other words, culture served as
source of morality.
Ethical relativism based on
culture.
But, does ethics necessarily
require cultural grounding?
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CULTURE
Culture from the Latin cultura stemming

from colere, meaning "to cultivate",

generally refers to:
Patterns of human activity and the
symbolic structures that give such
activity significance.
Different definitions of "culture" reflect
different theoretical bases for
understanding, or criteria for evaluating,
human activity.
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Most general, the term culture denotes:

Whole product of an individual, group or

society of intelligent beings.

It includes, technology, art, science, as
well as moral systems and characteristic
behaviors and habits of the selected
intelligent entities.
In particular, it has specific more detailed
meanings in different domains of human
activities.
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Culture has been called "the

way of life for an entire

society."
As such, it includes:
Code of manners, dress,
language, religion, rituals,
norms of behavior such as
law and morality, and

United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

(2002) described culture as follows:
"... the set of distinctive spiritual,
material, intellectual and emotional
features of society or a social
group, and that it encompasses, in
addition to art and literature,
lifestyles, ways of living together,
value systems, traditions and

People of Malawi

Persian women
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Morality that exists in various

cultures and society which

usually based on custom or
tradition called customary or
traditional morality.
Many custom and traditions are
quite effective and helpful in
creating moral societies.
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Many of moral teachings have arisen

out of human need in social

interaction, and gradually become
custom & tradition in a particular
society.
To moral philosophers, every human
belief, proposition, or idea must be
examined carefully and critically to
ensure that it has its basis in truth.
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ETHICAL RELATIVISM
Ethical Relativism is the view that:
Values are relative to and reducible to

conventions, customs or laws.

It is right because the customs say it
is right.
Ethical relativism looks like encouraging
the virtue of tolerance of differences
among different groups, but it has limits.
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Beliefs and attitudes about values differ

from culture to culture.

Moral judgement should be made in
relation to factors that can vary from case
to case. Those factors include customs,
conventions, and codes.
Customs can have great moral
significance in deciding how we should act.
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Cultural Absolutism &

Cultural Relativism
Two extremes in ethical reasoning:

Absolutism - maintains that there

are absolute truths / moral truths to
which all human being must adhere
if they are to be moral.
Relativism - there are no absolutes
of any kind, including morality, it is
relative to specific groups, cultures,
or even individuals.
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Absolute:
Means perfect in quality, and

complete, not limited by

restriction or exceptions, not to
be doubted or questioned.
It never change because it has
come from absolute being (God).
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Relative:
No absolute values at all.
All values are relative to time, place,

persons, and situation.

Morality varies from culture to culture
and from individual to individual and
that we ought to respect each others
moral views.
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Are there any anthropological

facts that prove conclusively that

either cultural relativism or
cultural absolutism is true?
Two groups of Anthropological facts:
i) Supporting cultural relativism
( cultural relativists)
ii) Supporting cultural absolutism
(cultural absolutists)
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Supporting Cultural Relativists:

There is extreme variation in customs,

manners, taboos, religions, and so on

from culture.
Moral beliefs and attitudes of human
beings are learned essentially from their
cultural environments.
People in different cultures tend to
believe that their morality is the one
true morality.
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Supporting Cultural Absolutists:

Similar moral principles exist in all

societies.
People in all culture have similar
needs
There are a great similarities in
situations and relationship existing
in all cultures.
There are a great many similarities
in sentiments, emotions, and

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Criticism on Anthropological Facts:

Just because culture differ about

what is right and wrong does not

mean that one culture is right
whereas another is wrong.
Just because a belief is learned
from or accepted by a culture does
not men that it is true or false, or
that truth is relative only to specific
societies.

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Just because moral principles

are similar in all societies does

not mean that they are valid
and absolute.
Even if people have similar
needs, sentiments, emotions,
and attitudes, there is still a
question of whether these
should or should not be

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Ethical Values in Malaysian

Culture
Ethical values in Malaysian culture is often

linked to ethnic values and culture.

These values have great impact on the way
we think, behave, and relate with people, and
perform our daily activities.
Generally, there are 3 major ethnics in
Malaysia, where distinctive ethical values can
be observed, as follows:

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