Critical essay on Relativism Social Sciences Essay (Essay Sample)

Critical essay on Relativism
Relativism is the dogma that righteousness, truth, and enlightenment exist in regard to society, or historical factors and are not universal. In other words, Relativism is a category of philosophical approaches that challenge assertions to impartiality within a specific realm and declare that reality and facts in that sphere are comparative to the outlook of an onlooker or the circumstances in which they are evaluated. There are different categories of Relativism (moral Relativism and epistemic Relativism) with a substantial disparity in range and contradicting levels of contention amongst them. This essay, however, focuses on moral Relativism. Moral Relativism refers to the variabilities in ethical rulings or judgments among different people and traditions. This essay shall apply an example from the case of genital mutilation, which talks about the Fauziya's family defying the tribal customs in which they belonged. The paper shall explicitly respond to the question, can a moral relativist critically judge the moral practices of people in other cultures, or should she be committed to a principle of uncritical tolerance.
Moral Relativism is a convenient solution to the profound disputes we encounter in our social lives. Some of these discords are quite popular and constitutional, such as the seemingly unmanageable controversy in America over the ethical and lawful dependability of abortion. Other disagreements calling for the relativistic feedback are of a less considerable but more perennial in character. Sommers (2001, p. 160) argues that Relativism is a practical phrase for ethically accepted practices. What the society officially agrees to might be shockingly unacceptable and immoral to another. Moral judgments, like instructions of a dress code or decorum, vary from group to group. In other words, morality is socially or culturally respective. Ethics are modeled by customs and traditions. For example, an article from Sex and Social Justice discusses that genital mutilation was glorified in Togo, so there the practice of genital mutilation was a norm (Nussbaum,1999, p199). It can be concluded that people are malleable to the shaping power of the culture in which they are brought up or live.