In today's society many people believe that the practice of slavery is morally wrong. However, some philosophers, such as Gilbert Harman, believe that we cannot judge whether slavery is morally wrong or right by comparing it to our own morality. This form of ethics is called ethical relativism, which is the theory that morality is relative to the norms of one's culture or society. In essence, an action is considered right or wrong based on the moral norms of the culture to which the person performing it belongs. This same action may be morally right in one society but be completely morally wrong in another society. For the ethical relativist, there are no universal moral standards, which are standards that can be applied universally to all people at all times. The only moral standards against which a society's practices can be judged are its own. A common criticism of ethical relativism is that it fails to recognize that some societies have better reasons to hold their views than others. Just because a society or culture comes to an implicit agreement about what its morals will be does not mean that those morals are morally acceptable. Imagine that two groups of people come to different agreements about killing people. One group concludes that killing people out of aggression or revenge is morally wrong, while the other believes it is morally right. According to ethical relativism, no one should judge either group to be morally wrong for choosing to believe one way or the other. However, killing someone is morally wrong and if everyone could kill, that would ultimately lead to almost no one being alive. This is a great example of when a group has a better reason to hold their belief above a… middle of paper… finding a fair way to judge another's ethics. In addition to failing to identify that some cultures have better reasons to hold their beliefs than others, ethical relativism fails to recognize that not all cultures are a well-defined subsection of people. Some individuals belong to multiple cultures, so which culture holds the presidency over others in determining one's behavior as moral or immoral? Although the theory of ethical relativism is rejected by most, it must be recognized that it raises important questions that should not be ignored. It reminds us that different societies have different moral beliefs and that our beliefs are deeply influenced by culture. It also encourages society to better examine the reasons behind beliefs and ethics that differ from ours, while challenging us to carefully examine our reasons for the beliefs and values ​​we believe in..