In this course, we are interested in how ethical relativism impacts a tribe as a whole, and what can be done to minimize the harmful effect of individual relativism. What is relativism? Relativism is the theory that the truth is different for different people (not just that different people believe different things to be true).
Individual ethical relativism refers to the theory that right and wrong can be different for each individual, so ethical judgments are only expressions of individual feelings or opinions.
Example: Many political, corporate, and religious leaders appear to believe in this. Leona Helmsley is reported to have said that only the little people pay taxes. She adheres to the notion that employees of a company or government are not be allowed to take home a computer for personal use or keep a company car, but many leaders do have these privileges. Leona Helmsley and leaders like her would justify their use of organization funds for their own purposes by pointing out the stress and responsibility of their own positions, or their own importance to the success of the company. They are concerned with themselves only; this is an example of INDIVIDUAL relativism.
Dr. Longie tells this story,
"Years ago, when I was a third grade teacher, I had sent the students out for recess one day. Shortly thereafter, the playground monitor returned with a student of mine. He was beating up another student, she informed me. I asked the student why he was beating up the other student. He replied, because he hit me back."
Now it is easy to understand why a third grader’s view of what is right and wrong may not be exactly in line with a grown up’s view of right and wrong. However, it is not so easy to understand
Cultural relativism can be an excuse for ethical violations when social norms contradict ethical values. If "everyone does it", missing work two or three days a week and having friends punch in their time card, does not speak up and support the tribal leader who accuses others of fraud in their expense accounts, when everyone else knows it is true as well, then that must be acceptable behavior, right? There are some on the reservation who would ignore laws against assault, theft, etc. and accuse the authorities of 'acting like white men' when they try to enforce ethical rules.
As stories of leaders such as Sitting Bull show, the true history of our people is one filled with ethical behavior not lawlessness. We will learn about many more such leaders in the next three sections of this course.