Lesson 2 Reading Summary PDF

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Brenda Marin Professor Stabille PHI 2604 06 November 2020

RS-02: Anthropology and the Abnormal In the passage, Anthropology and the Abnormal, Ruth Benedict stated throughout the text that what is considered normal and abnormal falls under cultural relativism as well as claiming that morality is also culturally relative. Firstly, Benedict begins with expressing that normality is relative to culture. According to the passage, she states, “As a matter of fact, one of the most striking facts that emerge from a study widely varying cultures is the ease with which our abnormals function in other cultures...there are well-described cultures in which these abnormals function at ease and with honor, and apparently without danger or difficulty to the society.”(Vaughn, 33) In this quote, Benedict claims that what is considered abnormal to people outside of a culture is not seen as abnormal within the culture itself. She claims that the culture is able to function off of ‘abnormality’, in other words, what might not work for one culture does not mean it won’t work for another. The other claim made by Benedict is that morality is relative to culture. For instance, in the text, Benedict declared, “We do not any longer make the mistake of deriving the morality of our own locality and decade directly from the inevitable constitution of human nature. We do not elevate it to the dignity of a first principle. We recognize that morality differs in every society, and is a convenient term for socially approved habits.”(Vaughn, 33) This quote shows that morals are different within societies and the values that the society as a whole share is what is approved by that society. This indicates that what one society might view as morally good can be

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viewed by another as morally wrong, therefore, morality is relative to culture. Works Cited Vaughn, Lewis. Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019....