Shoes at the door

About this video

Mei's class has pupils whose families come from many countries. In a lesson about customs they find that in some homes you take your shoes off at the door and in others you don't; some families greet with a handshake, some with a bow, some with kisses on the cheek. "So there's no right or wrong," says Leo. "It's all just what your culture says. Who is to say?"

Leo has noticed something true. Many of the rules people live by are customs: ways of doing things that differ between places and are fine either way. Neither shoes on nor shoes off is wrong; it matters to follow your host's custom, out of respect, but the custom itself is a choice, like which side of the road to drive on. Leo's conclusion goes further: all of right and wrong is like this. The view that right and wrong are only what each culture or person believes, with nothing that makes one view better than another, is called relativism.

People hold it for good-hearted reasons: humility, since people were often sure their own ways were the only right ones and were wrong; respect, since judging other cultures by your own customs has often led to contempt and cruelty; and real disagreement about moral questions. But it runs into puzzles even its friends have to answer. If right and wrong are only what a culture believes, then a culture that allowed slavery was not wrong by its own lights, and those who fought to end it were the ones who were wrong. "It's wrong to judge other cultures" is itself a judgement for everyone. And disagreement doesn't show there is no answer: people once disagreed about whether the Earth goes round the Sun.

Many thinkers take a path between: customs really differ and many differences deserve respect, but some reasons - harm, fairness, keeping your word, caring for children - turn up in nearly every culture. This video goes with the Who Is to Say? lesson of Ethics Level 1 on Knaph.

Transcript

1. 0:00Shoes off at the door, or not. A bow, or a handshake.
2. 0:05These are customs. Fine either way. So, says Leo, who is to say?
3. 0:11Relativism says all of right and wrong is like that. Its reasons are good-hearted.
4. 0:17But then slavery wasn't wrong, and those who ended it were.
5. 0:23Many take a path between. Some reasons turn up almost everywhere.
6. 0:29Customs differ. Is all of right and wrong a custom?