Abstract
The movement to respect culturaldiversity, known as multiculturalism, poses a dauntingchallenge to healthcare ethics. Can we construct adefensible passage from the fact of culturaldifferences to any claims regarding morality? Or doesmulticulturalism lead to ethical relativism? Macklinargues that, in view of a leading distinction betweenuniversalism in ethics and moral absolutism, the onlyreasonable passage avoids both absolutism andrelativism. She presents a strong case againstethical relativism and its pernicious consequences forcross-cultural issues in healthcare. She alsoprovides sound criteria for the assessment of aculture's moral progress.
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References
Macklin, R. (1999) Against Relativism: Cultural Diversity and the Search for Ethical Universals in Medicine. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Brannigan, M. Cultural Diversity and the Case Against Ethical Relativism. Health Care Analysis 8, 321–327 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009452219613
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009452219613