Cultural relativism

[Anonymous]

Where do you draw the line?

I choose not to draw a line, but that is a selfish answer.  It leaves it up to you to draw the line.  You must make a judgement on what is right and what is wrong, or you too can decline to make a judgement.

In absolute relativism, where any being can be defined as having their own culture, you could say a psychopath killing a child can be justice in relation to their own judgement of justice.  You could also theoretically imagine a race who subjects itself and its people to what we consider the highest height of torment and evil and according to its own internal ethics and morality be the height of justice and goodness.  So, where do you draw the line(s)?

[odeon]

I prefer them dotted.

[El]

Although the exact points of what it means could be argued, I'd say I'm sort of libertarian.  There are certain things that should be universal rights, but there are also things that don't nessessarily harm people but vary by culture and might offend some people, and those things shouldn't be forced as universal.

[McGiver]

drawing the lines in my own life has been a journey and i still change them frequently.

i feel that i do not have a right to judge what others choose in their own lives, just so long as it isn't harming another individual.

for example:
many people look down on physically abusive relationships.  i do not.
it seems that a woman who chooses a man who is physically abusive usually comes from the same type of environment growing up; dad was abusive to mom.
at some point the woman gets the courage to leave this abusive relationship, but more times than not the next relationship they seek out is abusive also.
i tend to think that the reason for this is because it provides an atmosphere of familiarity for the woman, since, that is all she has ever known.  would she be comfortable, know how to act, or even be happy in a relationship that wasn't abusive?

i just feel like it is not up to me to decide for other people what gets them through their day.  what makes them tick.  what works for them.