An interesting post and in our current world we are of course exposed to all sorts of cultures. I suppose we are all disposed to think our culture is superior and I have no issue with that as long it is not forced down my throat and indeed I very much like the idea of borrowing cultures from each other.Well, I intended the post to illustrate my scepticism about these kinds of debates. There will never be an objective standard of 'good' and 'evil', partly because they are impossible to quantify and partly because people, even when they're doing the morally wrong thing, tend to see their actions as justified, often because they're acting in their own self-interest, or the interests of those they care about. No villain thinks he's a bad guy. That is not to say morality has no place in society - of course it does, it is an imperative pillar of civilisation. And it's not to justify clear injustice, even if the unjust do not think they are behaving in such a manner. But here's the thing - different societies and cultures have different moral codes. Which can to lead to, or exacerbate, conflict when different societies, or even different individuals, meet. Do certain peoples, cultures or religions have superior moral codes to others? That is for the individual to decide in light of the information presented to them.
P.s. I'm not sure how simply describing a discussion as 'academic' constitutes a dismissal of science... What gave you that impression?
Of course I do want to even suggest that all cultural practices are good and some perhaps we should condemn such as genital mutilation or a culture of drunkenness or intolerance. However, we are all products of our culture, our education, our families, our religion and in general there is nothing much we personally can do about that but it does colour our thinking whether we like it or not.
What is interesting here and in some ways disturbing is that many social groups come say to the UK and want to create or recreate their culture there even though often the have fled oppression or violence within it in the homelands. One then finds that them demand to be able to do this using democratic freedoms whereas if that culture was fully implement such freedoms would disappear - I don't understand this.
Finally, I mention something written by the stoic Greek philosopher Epictetus who commented on human behaviour this way "it is not things in themselves that trouble us, but our opinion of things". In other words it is not what happens to us that determines our behaviour but how we interpret it. Thus facing a failure of some kind one person sees it as a new challenge and the other as abject defeat while someone else will see it as punishment he or she deserves.
So this brings us to you question, which if any cultures are good and therefore we should emulate. Which historically shall we say have led to peace, development and prosperity, which societies are tolerant, which care for the poor, which promote equality and so on or whatever other measure you care to suggest.
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