The Work Of Ruth Benedict

The Work Of Ruth benedickRuth Benedicts studies on moral relativism produced intriguing cultivation regarding cultures, how they be perplex, and how customs are inherent in determining an individuals perception of right and persecute. Among her most nonable works is the admit Patterns of Culture, which provides readers with a thorough explanation of the diversity put across by various cultures and of how it is wrong to judge genius relating to principles that are not certify in his or her culture. Speaking about Dobu Islanders and Kwakiutls Benedict proves that the great deal in these 2 groups should not be condemned because of the way they perceive life. The main halt stressed by Benedict is that morals are not the resembling for every culture and that one cannot consider that all people have the same outlook on notions like right and wrong.Not notwithstanding were Dobu Islanders considered by white people to be abnormally savage for the territories they inhabited, but they were also harshly criticized by the tribes neighboring them, which were to some extent every bit unsophisticated. In point of feature, during the early twentieth century white people recognized Dobu Islanders primarily for their poverty and because they were willing to work for clinical depression wages. In contrast to white people, the communities neighboring the Dobuans feared them because of their extreme way of living, which sometimes intricate bring abouting acts of cannibalism (Benedict 131).The Dobuans amply deserve the character they are minded(p) by their neighbors. They are lawless and treacherous (Benedict 131). Surely, this is most people would think when perceive things from what they perceive as macrocosm a general point of view, one that strictly distinguishes between concepts like right and wrong. Benedict however goes on to relate to moral relativism and to how the general general is wrong in accept that they can be impartial in defining principles relating to right and wrong. These two concepts are actually very inherent, since almost every culture perceives them differently.Dobuans are different from the rest of the existence because of a series of reason, most of them world rather normal for the general public. Curiously, the Dobu society functions unlike other communities, presumption that it does not keep an exact hierarchy and does not follow any rules other than those involving treachery and hostility. The general rule utilise in the Dobu federation is that referring to how every mans hand is against every other man (Bendict 131). Still, as Benedict describes, Dobuans manage to get through the day without producing chaos and anarchy is among the conclusion concepts that should be related to this culture (Benedict 131).In spite of the fact that Dobuans respect little to no rules that are highly praised in the so-called cultivated world, they are nonetheless genuine that what they do is short right. In entre e to living in an apparent state of lawlessness, Dobuans have rules that are found on assault and that thoroughly relate to what is and what is not permitted when concerning unfriendliness. The Dobu Islanders weigh that it is perfectly natural if they perform acts of betrayal and violence as long as they do so in what they perceive as being an nonionic environment.The very union that unites most communities that of marriage between individual feeler from two enemy groups is not considered by Dobuans to bring any change over in their lives, as they continue to hate each-other as they did before. Witchcraft is an essential element in Dobuan culture, since it is the reason for which most individuals perform a particular(prenominal) mission. With the intervention of white individuals, more and more Dobuans have expressed their intrust to escape their community in exchange of what the general public sees as being hard labor. This desire to work in inhumane conditions for low wa ges is the result of the work they would otherwise be forced to do in their own villages. The Dobuan community sees nothing wrong with the fact that a man who was caught overnight in the residence of a woman should be forced to work for the womans father and for his own family for a year, until he is considered apologise to join the community as a member with full rights. eat together is yet some other example that assists the couple uniting downstairs the ceremony of marriage.Although most of the Western World would be inclined to believe that there is nothing abnormal about the fact that Dobuans organize marriages in accordance to the general way in which a wedding takes place, matters are actually different. Indeed, Dobuans allow husbands and wives to stay together under the same crown and to provide food for their children. However, because mothers and motherline in general are especially valuable for Dobuans, couples are required to reside alternately in the grooms tribe and in the brides tribe for one year at a time, resolving the plight easily but beyond the understanding of most of the civilized world (Bendict 139).Dobuans typically believe that one can provided achieve advantage through cheating others into giving him what is rightfully theirs. The Dobuan culture provides individuals with complex information relating to how they can perform acts of treachery. Dobuans thus consider morality to relate only to their conception of society and to concepts such as right and wrong. The general public already has an understanding of right and wrong and considers Dobuans to act immorally, even with the fact that Dobu Islanders are merely doing what they were taught to do and are respecting the values imposed on them by their community (Bendict 142).Bendicts view on moral relativism relates to cultural relativism, since it involves the guess that an individuals behavior and convictions should be analyzed from the standpoint of the respective individua ls culture. Morality is basically relative and even with the fact that Western philosophers have produced complex theories related to ethical behavior, the information they generated is by and large useful, since it can only be applied to a limited number of cultures and even in these cultures the concepts of right and wrong can be considered to be unbalanced.To some extent, the presently extinct Kwakiutl creation that once resided on the northwest coast of the American continent is corresponding to the Dobu Islanders. They too praised the eldritch and went through great efforts to attain it, even resorting to committing acts of cannibalism. effect was a foremost element in the lives of Kwakiutls, as they did not flicker to use aggression every time they had the opportunity to do so. Acts of aggression were actually part of ceremonies related to the communitys economy and the fighting abilities it possessed. It was essential for one to demonstrate his or her skipperity in fro nt of their opponents through making use of violence. According to Benedict, the object of all Kwakiutl enterprise was to show oneself superior to ones rivals (Bendict 190).In spite of their anomalous behavior, Kwakiutls simply did what their society taught them. Performing mostly every act that was not in accordance to their instinct provided Kwakiutls with reasonableness and they were determined to use every means possible with the purpose of reaching this state (Benedict 79).The concepts promoted by the Kwakiutl society are extremely unclear and complex, wedded that Kwakiutls were extremely devoted to serving their purpose and did not hesitate to perform inexplicable acts that they saw as being right. Not only were the Kwakiutls certain that they had to perform abnormal acts in order to become one with the supernatural, but they believed that these nonstandard performances were by and large obligatory to be associated to pain and torment. The most explanatory paragraph in Bene dicts book relating to how Kwakiutls were certain that violence was the event to virtually everything is the one speaking about the fact that these individuals believed that all of their gods were evil, since they could not comprehend a god that performs good deeds. They did not suppose that supernatural beings were beneficent. They knew that hurricanes and avalanches were not, and they attributed to the Gods the characteristics of the natural world (Benedict 221). It would be unlikely for a Kwakiutl to be influenced in believing that the divine can also put across kindness, given that one cannot explain how gods can be good and produce hurricanes and avalanches for no actual reason at the same time.As demonstrated by Benedict in her description of the Dobuan and Kwakiutl cultures, it is illogical to attempt to determine if a particular act is right or wrong, considering that it can be silent as good from the standpoint of a particular culture whereas another can perceive it as be ing totally immoral. Just as each individual from a community can express subjective convictions regarding a topic in particular, a community as a whole can put across subjective ideas regarding what qualifies as being acceptable and what can be identified as being intolerable.