We could decide whether actions are right or wrong just by consulting the standards of our society. Cultural Relativism suggests a simple test for determining what is right and what is wrong: All one...

We could decide whether actions are right or wrong just by consulting the standards of our society. Cultural Relativism suggests a simple test for determining what is right and what is wrong: All one need do is ask whether the action is in accordance with the code of one’s society. Suppose in 1975, a resident of South Africa was wondering whether his country’s policy of apartheid—a rigidly racist system—was morally correct. All he has to do is ask whether this policy conformed to his society’s moral code. If it did, there would have been nothing to worry about, at least from a moral point of view. This implication of Cultural Relativism is disturbing because few of us think that our society’s code is perfect; we can think of ways it might be improved. Yet Cultural Relativism would not only forbid us from criticizing the codes of other societies; it would stop us from criticizing our own. After all, if right and wrong are relative to culture, this must be true for our own culture just as much as for other cultures."

Are moral values merely a matter of cultural convention? If so, how do we offer a moral response to acts of genocide (the Holocaust for example), human rights violations, war crimes, etc.?