What is cultural relativism, and can we judge others?

Note:  this topic will be discussed on Nov. 13.

On October 11th the Seattle Times published 2 articles by Ron Judd concerned with the subject of George Washington.  The questions raised were essentially, why was our state named for someone who owned slaves and never set foot here, and how can we venerate founding fathers who promoted the ideals of universal freedom for all and still owned slaves?  Click here and here to read the articles.

The philosophical question behind these questions is, do we have a right to judge others in different cultures or from different times using the standards we have today?  Is it right to think that our values and norms are somehow universally correct for everyone, everywhere, and everywhen?   Or, do we need to step back and say, they lived in a different time and by different norms we can't really judge?  The subtext is, are there universal norms that always apply, like murder is always wrong, and slavery is always wrong, no matter what?

I liked the even-handedness Judd uses in his articles, and how he included interviews with black historians who study Washington and others of the founding fathers, and shares their perspectives.  I can feel the relativistic process at work, tying in the recent Civil War statue removal backlashes, among other current issues.  At one level you can see a revisionist history being written while, at the same time, we are asking ourselves if it is right to change the way we interpret and report on past events.  Can't we accept that things were different then, and accept the people of that time (in this case), and somehow understand their perspectives and motivations?

The practice at the time of the young USA was for a slaveholder to free his slaves upon his death through his will, which Washington did.  Jefferson did the same (for the most part).  Judd's historians raise the question, how different would the fledgling USA have turned out if he had freed his slaves while serving as president?  He missed his chance to be that shining example that maybe he should have been.