文化相对主义的复生及其评析

文化相对主义是理解人类文化生态多样性的一个重要理论基础，它不仅为研究人类文化的历史和未来提供了一种新的视角，而且在对西方文化独断论的批评以及守望弱势国家民族文化的独特性上起到了积极的作用。但是，物极必反，如果把自己的文化之相对性提高到不恰当的地步，任凭文化相对主义的极度发展，甚至企图使其凌驾于其他文化体系之上发号施令，就可能偏离自己的初衷，陷入文化普遍主义或者文化中心主义的泥淖。

A Commentary on the Renaissance of Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism is an important theoretical foundation in the understanding of human cultural and ecological diversity. Not only does it provide a new angle to do research on the cultural history and future of human race, it also plays a positive role in both the criticism of Western culture dogmatism and the safeguarding of the cultural distinctiveness in disadvantaged nations. However, going too far is just as bad as not going far enough. If one were to raise his or her own cultural relativity to an inappropriate level, to let cultural relativism develop without any restraint, or even to make it domineer over any other cultural systems to issue orders, there is a good chance for them to deviate from their original intentions, only to end up getting caught in the quagmire of cultural universalism or cultural centralism.