OUR CHANGING SOCIETY
...ed thinking and prejudice. It is also sad but true that society tends to persecute those of different cultures, races, or beliefs. A good example of this can be taken from the way American Indians were treated when our country was settled. They were looked upon as “savages” or “heathens” who needed to be “saved” and turned into “God-fearing” citizens in order to conform to the prevalent society. This is a type of behavior referred to by Pojman as ethnocentrism (13). Fortunately, there is a trend in our society today which is beginning to adopt more of a belief system that all moral principles are valid relative to culture or individual choice. A similar belief system is that moral beliefs or rules differ from one society to the next. For instance, there are some cultures who believe it is morally acceptable to have more than one wife, whereas, our culture strictly forbids it. There are certain religious groups who do not eat meat on certain days of the week. However, just because these differences exist and we may not agree with them, does not necessarily make them wrong. This type of belief system is referred to in Pojman’s article as the diversity thesis and he defines it as “simply an anthropological thesis that acknowledges the fact that moral rules differ from society to society” (15). It is a well-known fact that we are each a product of our culture. How we are raised determines what our beliefs and morals are. As Pojman puts it “We are simply culturally determined beings” (16). Therefore, what we perceive as right or wrong is d...