Intercultural Ethics

Interest in intercultural ethics has arisen, not just because people from different cultures think and behave in different ways but also because the ways in which one orients oneself towards the attitudes, beliefs and values of a person from another culture also demand an ethically informed position. Two current approaches towards intercultural ethics are identified. One views ethics as a set of principles of conduct, and the other sees the relationship with a person from another culture as being in itself an ethical relationship. Four contexts for intercultural ethics are set out in relation to relevant principles of conduct for the intercultural speaker, the intercultural sojourner, the intercultural trainee and the transcultural refugee. However, intercultural communication can also be regarded as being underwritten by ethical relationship that exists between human beings, which has given rise to a focus on the precepts of tolerance, hospitality and responsibility