Question

A cultural ethics is neither true nor false. Explain.

Answer 1

Culturalism is not valid but not necessarily at least. You can see this under the cultural approach, in the logic. The rationale starts with an observation: selling money under the table is generally considered an acceptable, ethically respectable part of business practice in some cultures, while in others it is considered both illegal while immoral.

There was a time when some argued that the sun and planets were based on the earth, and others argued that the sun was in the centre, but this did not mean that the conflict would continue forever. Finally, we used tools to persuade everyone that one side was right. So also in business ethics: one day an entrepreneurial ethicist may find a way to prove unquestionably on the basis of a universal and rational argument that greasing palms is a bribe and not a gift, and it is unethical, not moral.

We don't know if it is going to happen, but it might. Consequently, the fact that we are all uncertain as to whether any single ethics can cope with the entire planet does not entail shooting to the other extreme and claiming that there can never be anything but what people in particular nations believe and that is it. Or put it another way, the culturalist claim is not inherently convincing.