chels essays, The Elements of Moral Philosophy Rachels makes a clear distinction in the essay about the habits of Eskimos to commit infanticide and genocide of the elderly. Then a very thought-provoking rational was extended to the reasoning behind such cases, Eskimos are a very isolated and nomadic group the ability to survive in very harsh weather is the key to survival in this culture, therefore one must produce to support the family, the men in the family produce and the women take care of the family. If one grows elderly and is unable to produce or take care of the family the person is left outside to die. This natural population control is the key to being able to have enough supplies for the family to survive.Also the Eskimo birthrate is very high, because of the limitations on the culture to produce for itself it can not sustain a high birthright, moreover because of the distribution of sexes in families it is not uncommon for the female to be put to death at birth, while the male will be raised to hunt and support the family. It takes more males then females. It would be better to put one person to death than lose the whole family because there are not enough supplies to go around. A cultural relativist would contend that because of these stipulations it would be wrong to assume because the Eskimos are different than us it makes no sense to assume or further more persecute them for living the way they always have and moreover wrong to assume they are not living the correct way.I would contend that although this is an answer to why the Eskimos do what they do it is not by any means justified. How could one make a conscious decision that because it is convenient it is all right to murder or neglect ones family or any person for that matter. It leaves one with no answers, just because one lives in a different culture it makes it all right to kill because that is what others do. This is not a valid argument and doesnt help in any ...
