ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that a clear example of interculturally shared values and methods may be found in medicine. These values and beliefs sometimes effectively and rationally challenge deeply embedded moral and cultural beliefs. To demonstrate how shared goals and values can rationally challenge entrenched cultural attitudes and beliefs, thereby showing the implausibility of ethical relativism, the chapter discusses the rite of female circumcision/genital mutilation. Examination of reasons given by men and women who practice female circumcision/genital mutilation reveals many ways of entering the debate, using these shared values and methods. Beliefs that female circumcision or infibulation promotes health and hygiene are incompatible with evidence from surveys done within cultures where these rites are practiced. Ethical relativism seeks to explain the meaning and use of moral terms and judgments with a single-dimension, cultural approval and disapproval.
