Abstract
This is an essay on cultural relativism in the field of political ethics. Yesterday confined to anthropological studies, the idea infiltrated the domain of international morality after the Second World War. It developed from its original virtues of tolerance and understanding to more defensive claims to self-determination and domestic sovereignty. New multilateral agreements on the promotion of global human rights are today criticized as not so universal as they once seemed to be. There are now demands for revisions of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights of 1948 and its several associated treaties , revisions that would insist less on individual rights and more on the duties of every person towards its state and community. Most of these requests originate from non-Western countries eager to defend their own political and legal institutions, often stigmatized as being authoritarian and disrespectful to basic human dignity. Are these claims expressing real concern for domestic cultural productions, or are they rather the egoistic wishes of ruling elites wanting to keep control of their society ? Cultural relativity is a fact that cannot be denied ; we are all socially situated beings. Does that mean there is a moral justification to cultural relativism ? And if so, does it leave some room to the possibility of universal moral values anyway ?
