Cultural Relativism

We often hear that "morality is relative to culture" or that "right and wrong vary with cultural norms." These are rough formulations of cultural relativism, 2 a theory with multiple charms, appearing rigorously scientific to some, fashionably postmodern to others. Not surprisingly, cultural relativism is on the upswing in many disciplines, 3 and is seen by many people as [End Page 501] the last word in ethical theory. In what follows I challenge this state of affairs by refuting the chief arguments for cultural relativism.