Philosophy - Evaluate Rachels Claims against Cultural Relativism

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In the long raging battle of metaethics, exists the debate between cultural relativism and a more absolutist approach towards morals. In this rapidly changing and globalized world, a better understanding of ethics is more crucial than ever. It is clear that there are many diverse cultures all around the world with differences ranging from how we drink our coffee, to how we bury our dead. This begs the question, what do we make of the differing moralities that we find through different cultures? Are there universal morals that should be followed, as an absolutist would argue? Or is the concept of right and wrong dependent on our cultural teachings? Cultural relativism is plausible yet it leaves many unanswered questions, similarly, moral realism attempts to answer these questions yet does so by opening up more questions. Those opposing cultural relativism (Rachels, 1986; Rachels and Rachels, 2010; Thomson, 1990; Pojman, 2008; Schick and Vaughn, 2010) argue that it's view on ethics and morality is too simple and doesn't take into account the universal moral rules which transcend culture. Alternatively, those in favour of relativism (Park, 2011; Harman, 2008) would argue that there are no universal moral values that govern behavior as the