Cultural Relativism and Human rights; Ancient Greek Law A Brief Analysis

Encyclopaedia of religion and Ethics
BY Louis Herbert Gray

These brilliant citations were taken from this Encyclopedia published in 1915 under the heading of Philosophy. I felt the need to find a historical reference and a "nexus": to coin a phraseology from military terminology (being an ex USAF veteran), which means a link or connection between human rights and cultural relativism. This lead me to ancient Greek Philosophy. I have quoted some text from this time frame to enhance this blogs and your interpretation of the significance of the history of cultural relativism and human rights from an ancient Greek point of view.




"Nature of law.—The Greeks set a very high ideal to the State; its aim was not merely negative—to provide order and security for its members—but positive—to ensure the welfare of the individual. The policy might be called a cultural socialism—oi5 /i.'h'w rou j,'iji> lutita, dXXA Tou et fry (cf. Plato, Legg. xi. 923 A). Thus the State was regarded as being primarily an educational and cultural institution. To the attainment of its ideal, the laws were the chief instrument."



"The general result was an acute realization of the relativity of all human affairs, which in practical life acted as a powerful social dis-solvent. It became a common contention that law was merely the product of force, or an arbitrary and artificial arrangement which superior persons were entitled to disregard."

"This was to be explained, they said, by the social instinct: man is led by nature to evaluate his own actions — hence the feeling of shame (cu'Sus)—and at the same time to strike a balance between conflicting rights—hence justice (SUii) (Plato, Protag. 322B). How was this to be reconciled with relativism? According to Plato, Protagoras held that the laws were the result of conventions imposed by each city according to its own particular standards (Thetct. 172 A, B). It was useless to dispute concerning the truth of these different views of law ; but the event would show which of them was useful and which not. In this system, therefore, individual- jam is supplanted by pragmatism. The doctrine of the Si|a TTJt r&\eus, fully developed by Protagoras, remains one of the corner-stones of Sokrates' teaching. The citizen who has been nurtured by the irti.Nis, and chooses to remain in it, must abide by its decrees ; at the same time, freedom must be allowed to individual thought, and Sokrates was optimistic as to the ultimate triumph of right knowledge in politics and jurisprudence as well as in science; his standard for the examination of laws is a logical standard, and his method necessarily dialectical. Plato follows upon much the same lines as Socrates."

Interesting though, each city had there own cultural laws based upon that cities particular standard? This is dated when now?" Man is led to nature to evaluate his own actions." How much more interesting. Men have been pondering upon these issues for centuries. It is no easier in today's modern society than is was back in ancient Greece for the most intelligent men alive to come up with something that made "sense" to everyone! I am not totally surprised by this. I hope you enjoyed this
post.

Encyclopaedia of religion and Ethics
BY Louis Herbert Gray

These brilliant citations were taken from this Encyclopedia published in 1915 under the heading of Philosophy. I felt the need to find a historical reference and a "nexus": to coin a phraseology from military terminology (being an ex USAF veteran), which means a link or connection between human rights and cultural relativism. This lead me to ancient Greek Philosophy. I have quoted some text from this time frame to enhance this blogs and your interpretation of the significance of the history of cultural relativism and human rights from an ancient Greek point of view.

William

Philosophy of Cultural Relativism

Philosophy of Religion » Cultural Relativism

A few posts back I looked at a theological approach, just briefly, and related that approach to cultural relativism. Today's post is also from a philosophy of "religion" approach, however, no religious ideology is mentioned in this analysis of cultural relativism. What I felt most important to note, in this particular authors argument, was his conclusion and how he arrived at it. Basically though, however, I want to get right to the strength of his analysis:

"This strength of cultural relativism, however, is also its weakness. Cultural relativism excuses us from judging the moral status of other cultures in cases where doing so seems to be inappropriate, but it also renders us powerless to judge the moral status of other cultures in cases where doing so seems to be necessary. Faced with a culture that deems slavery morally acceptable, it seems to be appropriate to judge that society to be morally inferior to our own. Faced with a culture that deems ethnic cleansing morally acceptable, it seems to be appropriate to condemn that society as morally abhorrent.

In order to make such judgments as these, however, we need to be able to invoke an ethical standard that is not culturally relative. In order to make a cross-cultural moral comparison, we need a cross-cultural moral standard, which is precisely the kind of moral standard that cultural relativism claims does not exist."

Where this argument leads is where many others have lead already, that is to say that to argue for the legitimacy of cultural relativism you must also have what he says is a "cross cultural moral standard." This is the first time I have heard this notion announced. I happen to like it. There have been many other pronunciations of similar approaches with meanings that are of course nearly identical. However, not exactly associated the same way. Furthermore, the simplicity of the entire article makes it easy to follow and is easy for a beginning philosophy major perhaps even useful to an intermediate level to understand and to comprehend. It just cuts through a lot of the"jargon". I hope that someone that may arrive at this blog has a chance to review this article and my review of it. They will hopefully gain an enhanced understanding of the philosophy of cultural relativism.

William