ral function. In this case, the relativist would necessarily adopt the position that the above mentioned culture should be respected in its belief. Why should this belief be tolerated, though? If the relativist position is considered seriously, many such instances of "over-toleration" can be pointed out. In fact, the outcome of the position under such circumstances is utterly barbaric.Another remote benefit of the position is that it "warns us... about the danger of assuming that all our preferences are based on some absolute rational standard (Rachels p.457)." The relativist may sight the example of the mound-men, an early culture, which piled their dead in the field and then covered them with mud (in the shape of a mound). His argument would be that, even though the American culture does not carry out such activities, the early culture was not objectively (or rationally) wrong. Once again, this makes good sense, for if cultures were to uphold this strict objective standard, then they would be culturalcentric and totally unaccepting. However, let the reader consider this example of the primitive headhunters. As part of a religious ritual, these societies would hunt and kill people from other cultures in order to keep their skulls as trophies. From the relativist perspective, the primitive culture is doing what is right for them and its practices cannot be judged as immoral. However, the action of killing without just cause is immoral, and since this culture practiced it, the culture should be said to be committing a moral outrage. In such circumstances, an absolute standard of morality is needed in order to halt wrong acts.One final negligible benefit of the relativist position is the idea that the position advocates keeping an open mind. The relativist would explain that just because one culture's ideals differ from another's, one should not automatically label these ideals as immoral. In some cases, this is quite important. The far-f...
