by Matt Lebeau

Created on: May 16, 2008

Moral Isolationism and The Samurai Tsujigiri

Moral isolationism is the belief that no one can ever understand any culture except his or her own. And due to this lack of understanding, no one is ever just in criticizing another culture. This argument demonstrates validity, but it is far from a sound argument. The premises definitely support the conclusion, however they will be shown to be completely false.

P1) if you don't understand a culture you cannot criticize it
P2) if we are not a part of a culture we can never gain an understanding
C) If we never gain an understanding of a culture, we can never criticize it

Advocates for moral isolationism insist that the world is divided into distinctly different cultures, each with its own set of principles and beliefs. They continue that in order to demonstrate respect for all cultures, decisions of moral judgment can only be made within one's own culture.

Following this attitude, we as Americans, having a modern, westernized culture, could never understand the beliefs of a culture in another country or region. An example of this is the ancient Japanese custom of tsujigiri, which means "crossroads-cut." This tradition, practiced by the samurai warriors of Japan, called for testing out new swords on passing wayfarers or travelers. For a samurai to succeed in battle, his sword must be able to slice though someone in a single swing, passing from the shoulder to the opposite side. If the sword did not work properly, in combat, the warrior would lose his honor, the respect of his emperor and disgrace his ancestors.

At first glance, this ancient custom appears barbaric and morally wrong. In our society, murder is viewed as one of the most heinous crime. We despise it so much that those convicted are removed from society either with a prison sentence or by execution. Here we find that in ancient Japan murder of innocent wayfarers was not only "all right," but also essential to preserving the honor of an entire group of warrior people.

Moral isolationists would point to this as another example of an unqualified society trying to judge a culture they do not understand. However, several philosophers, including Midgley, have proposed several interesting questions to counter this claim. First, "If we are unable to criticize other cultures are they equally unable to criticize us?" Midgley answers this question by stating that it is possible to pass indictment, but in order to be qualified in judgment a significant amount of time must pass.

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