All Of Richard Rorty Human Rights And Cultural Relativism

All of Richard Rorty – Human Rights, Rationality and Sentimentality – Fernando Tesà ³n – International Human Rights and Cultural Relativism – and Charles Taylor – A World Consensus on Human Rights? – believe or concede to some degree that the notion of what Taylor defines as descriptive relativism is one that accurately describes the varied realities of individuals in differing cultures; that there exists in the world some measure of diversity of culture. In their respective thought processes that follow from that point, however, the three thinkers diverge considerably. Tesà ³n, for instance, asserts that – while it is certainly prevalent – cultural diversity is not morally relevant. Relying upon the Kantian notion of autonomy, Tesà ³n argues†¦show more content†¦With this assumption, it is unsurprising that he lands on a conclusion of cultural relativism as a morally bankrupt concept – because he approaches it from a heavily skewed stance. Were that assumption necessarily true, then the logic that follows from it would make for a compelling piece. However, Tesà ³n fails to convince of the validity of the assumption that Kantian autonomy need be applied transculturally – and thus fails to convince that culture is not morally relevant. He presents a few arguments to this end, including issues with the universalizability and epistemology of cultural relativism (385-386), but these same flaws apply to the theories he goes on to support. Taylor’s stance of the Kantian autonomy as a cultural notion itself is never satisfactorily addressed, thus the most pressing issue with Tesà ³n’s work is this failure to convince that his preferred form of moral standard – derived from a specific cultural tradition – should be used to evaluate transculturally. Of course applying this form of evaluation to varied cultures will produce the appearance that other cultures – cultures not based upon this metric for measuring morality – will lack some morality, but this is analogous to judging the quality of a rugby club by how many runs they scored during a match or a baseball team by how many tries they scored during a game: the measuring stick is simply incompatible with what is being measured. PutShow MoreRelated Philosophy Essay3726 Words   |  15 Pages Relativism -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first clear statement of relativism comes with the Sophist Protagoras, as quoted by Plato, quot;The way things appear to me, in that way they exist for me; and the way things appears to you, in that way they exist for youquot; (Theaetetus 152a). Thus, however I see things, that is actually true -- for me. If you see things differently, then that is true -- for you. 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