Cross-Cultural Ethics

Part I of Essay
An old Vietnamese proverb states, "The law of the Emperor stops at the village gate." This saying illustrates the principle that rules tend to lose their power as they get further away from their source. The distance needs to be measured both in miles and cultural norms. ....

Part II of Essay
.... culture provides an unquestioned context within which individual action and response take place. Even rational action is subject to the cultural definition of what is a meaningful goal and what are available means(16). Culturally determined responses are built into the very physiology of the organism. Second, culture pervades social activities and institutions. There is a strain toward consistency in culture—consistency of perception and style, as well as of values and ethics. This is the thesis of McGann’s discussion of integrating ....