2. Ethical relativism
Velasquez (1998, p.22) defines ethical relativism as “the theory that, because different societies have different ethical beliefs, there is no retional way of determining whether an action is morally right or wrong other than by asking whether the people of this or that society believe it is morally right or wrong.” That is, the theory of ethical relativism states that because different cultures may have different moral principle, there is no way to judge these principles as being correct or incorrect (Rachels, 1999). Thus, for example, if a given culture believes that cannibalism is ethical, then there is no basis to argue that they are wrong, and so it would be wrong to try to convince them to change their beliefs.