"via media"

In my blog post for Singer, I addressed cultural insensitivity and the importance of cultural competence. The idea of cultural and moral relativism is something I was supporting as of Tuesday; I am a person who typically favors respect to the point of shying away from conflict. I think that this reading brings up a strong argument about the dangers of being too culturally sensitive to the point of blindness and the ‘via media’ concept provided an alternative that I thoroughly enjoyed thinking about. He describes ‘via media’ as between the opposing two views when he says, “There is a via media (a ‘middle way’) between the extremes of moral dogmatism (assuming that one’s present moral perspective is sufficient unto itself and incapable of improvement), and moral relativism (where one makes the opposite mistake of uncritically assuming that all moral perspectives are equally valid)” (18). I agree that taking a middle standpoint in which you examine your personal perspective continuously is a solid way to go about determining your own beliefs. You can then still respect differing cultures without excusing actions that may have immoral roots, whether they happen within your own culture or any other. I like the idea of continually and respectfully questioning and reflecting to strengthen your morals. I am thankful to have read this perspective of the cultural insensitivity and relativism issue.

However, one aspect where I think this piece could be improved is in the lack of support or inclination as to what the author means by ‘justification’ or ‘good reasoning.’ He uses the phrase throughout the piece but never exemplifies what constitutes ‘good reasoning or justification.’ I think the argument would be even stronger if that aspect was more adequately addressed.