7. Societies do, in fact, share certain core values
While a superficial observation of the cultural practices of different societies may lead you to believe they are quite different, a closer examination often reveals similar values underlying these practices. James Rachels argues that all societies, in order to maintain their existence, must have a set of core values [5]. For example, newborn babies are helpless. A society must care for its infants if it wishes to continue. Hence a core value of every society is that babies must be cared for. Communities rely upon people being able to believe each other. Hence telling the truth is another core value. Finally, in order to live together, people must not constantly be on guard against attack from their community members. For this reason a prohibition against murder is a core value of any society.
The existence of common values among all societies is a powerful response to the contention that different social contexts demand different moral guidelines, which is at the heart of the argument in favor of cultural relativism. Because societies do share certain core values, there is reason to believe we could use these values as a starting point in the creation of a universal ethical theory that would not have the deficiencies of cultural relativism.