Mary Midgely : Trying out one's new world

What I Expect to learn :

I expect to learn how do people of other culture can understand and appreciate o
ther's culture.
Review :
Mary Midgely mentioned that there is a contradiction between the claim that we c
annot understand some of these cultures and we should respect it. We also have t
o understand that some other culture well enough to make their own Judgment for
instance the law is not required they can make thei Judgment in a matter of time
and we think that it is not fair it's not our culture and we should have our kn
owledge to think that some of these people are other and they have different God
. But somehow we can understand people in other cultures we should make our mind
understand and not being a Judgemental person.
Ethical relativism is the consequence of accepting the claim that "We cannot jud
ge others" it is more radical paralysis that we cannot judge. The power of moral
judgment is, not a perverse indulgence of the self-righteious. It is a necessit
y. When we Judge something we are taking it as an example to aim at or to avoid
it.
It is said that Japanese test thei Samurai swords in the old times and it seems
brutal to other culture, because the first thing that comes up with their minds
is that it can harm other people and it is very deadly.
In this chapter, Mary Midgely was also able to explain that the people who take
up this idea of moral isolationism think that it is being respectful to other cu
ltures and societies. Nobody can respect what is entirely unintelligible to them.
(Midgely) She disagreed to that kind of notion people are thinking. According to
her, to respect someone, we have to know enough about him to make a favorable ju
dgment, however general and tentative. And we do not understand people in other
cultures to this extent. Otherwise a great mass of our most valuable thinking wo
uld be paralyzed (Midgley).
Mary Midgley was able to illustrate her arguments in this chapter. First, she ar
gued that there is a contradiction between the claim that we cannot understand th
ese rules, and the claim we must respect them. (Midgely) This only means that we,
ourselves, can understand people in other cultures. In the following paragraphs,
Midgely was able to illustrate some relevant examples to explain the importance
of analyzing other culture s morals in order to form educated judgments about the
m. She gives an example of ancient Chinese samurai warriors whom before going of
f to battle would test the sharpness of their swords on innocent strangers. (Mid
gely)
What I have learned :
I learned that we should not judge other cultures just by looking them outside.
Integrative Questions :
1.) What is Ethical relativism?
2.) What are the other cultures in the Southern Asia?
3.) How do you judge people by just looking at him/her?
4.) What is required in judging people without affecting them?
5.) Whati is Isolationism?