Why is it morally relevant that a mortal reaction to a practice likew FGM is learned? The point oi education is in part to instill the right reations and habits in our children. You write as if the fact that behavior was learned undermines its moral force. That is a version of what philosophers call the genetic fallacy, the idea that the provenance of some belief bears on its correctness. Here you don't even try to suggest in geneaological fashion taht there is nothing to the reaction except that it is learned,
Can I
> morally distinguish between them? Sure. Does this
> moral judgment
> shape my own life? Sure. Should I use this moral
> judgment to
> change on an African society against the will of the
> women
> in that society? Absolutely not.
You write as if "societies" were hermetically sealed entities with bright line boundaries marking them. In fact we jsut have rough divisions enforced by politically contingent and often contested lines. What marks the boundary beyond which "we" cannot impose our moral views by force? Normally that is called "politics," the law is largely an imposition of the moral views of the majority or of powerful interest groups at least backed with force. ANd the juridictional reach of law is just a matter of how far a lawmaking body can get awayw ith imposing its views on some population. To put it another wayu, "self"-determination presupposesa clearer notion of who are "we" than you have suggested.
jks
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