Cultural Relativism and Universal Human Rights Essay.
Cultural relativism is the idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another. It was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and later popularized by his students. Boas first articulated the idea in 1887.
Culture is closely knit with religion and the development of universal human rights acknowledges these very crucial aspects. It is however true that the existence of universal human rights is compromised by cultural relativism. Human dignity and tolerance are not enough to support a global culture. Reinforcement of these rights is necessary.
Cultural relativism is the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. In other words, “right” and “wrong” are culture-specific; what is considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality exists, no one has the right to judge another society’s customs.
However, cultural relativism in human rights discourse implies that it is the prerogative of every culture or country to determine its own culture and values independently and as a doctrine that demands respect for cultural differences when considering human rights and emphasizes that cultural values should be prioritized over any claims of universal values.
My thesis on Human Rights and Cultural Relativismaddresses to the universal discourse on human rights, to its philosophical roots and international legal recognition, to the challenges as well as advanced under the guise of cultural relativism.
The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights Essays - In the result of WWII and the holocaust, the United Nations was created and it set out to create a document that established peace and protect basic rights that humans are entitled to regardless of the country residing in.
In-text: (Afshari, 1994) Your Bibliography: Afshari, R., 1994. An Essay on Islamic Cultural Relativism in the Discourse of Human Rights. Human Rights Quarterly, 16(2.