Customer Reviews

Against Relativism: Cultural Diversity and the Search for Ethical Universals in Medicine

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A friend who works in the area of human rights lent me this as a result of a conversation we had. Though perhaps not a book for the general reader, Macklin's writing is unusually clear for an academic. Most anthropology and sociology writing I have encountered is impenetrable, full of jargon and bloat.

Macklin presents a variety of problems facing human rights workers worldwide. Generally they demonstrate the difficulty of providing "universal" human rights to persons within cultures in which those rights conflict with traditional practice. A common argument against the application of a universal human right that conflicts with local tradition is that it is ethical imperialism--that you (ie the Westerner) have no right to impose your values on our culture--there is no "better" or "worse" set of values, only yours, and ours. You do not have the right to criticize the practices of a culture, from outside that culture. Thus do many customs considered abhorrent by the "west" find justification in this "relativist" rationale.

She discusses issues such as female genital mutilation, informed consent by doctors, the definition of death, organ transplantation, the reproductive rights of women, and the rights of individual women vs the rights of their families. Macklin describes each case in full context then carefully picks her way through, arriving at well-argued conclusions.

Excellent reading, even for a non-specialist.