Aug. 9, 2019 - This set of slides was presented at the Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference (COLTT) held at the University of Colorado. The presentation details my pedagogical method of using digital games to teach students how to identify problems in cultural relativism, a normative ethical theory that suggests cultures are the main source of morality, that morality is relative to culture.

1. Embodying Morality
Through Play: Using
Games to Challenge
Cultural Relativism

2. HELLO!I am Sherry Jones
★ Philosophy + Games Studies SME Instructor, Rocky Mountain
College of Art + Design.
★ Steering Committee Board Member, International Game
Developers Association (IGDA) - Learning, Games + Education.
★ Judge, Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE
Awards - Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Games +
Gamification in Education.
★ Officer, IEEE Computer, Information Theory + Robotics Society.
★ Twitter @ autnes
★ Bio @ http://bit.ly/sherryjonesbio
★ Slides @ http://bit.ly/playconditions
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3. Cultural Relativism
A challenging problem studied in moral philosophy and ethics.
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4. What is Cultural Relativism?
★ Cultural relativism poses a problem for traditional ethics which
aims to identify universal moral standards for social good.
★ Cultural relativism is the philosophical theory that a
culture/society is the principle source of valid moral rules.
★ If moral standards are culturally relative, then a culture’s moral
beliefs are no better or worse than another culture’s.
★ Moral standards of all cultures and societies are equally good.
Therefore, no debate/disagreement on cultural, moral
standards is possible.
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5. P
★ Genocide is morally permissible.
★ Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is
morally permissible.
★ Female Infanticide is morally
permissible.
★ Carrying AK-47 in public is morally
permissible.
★ Factory farming is morally permissible.
Rebuttal: Cultural
Relativism Presents a
Logical Contradiction
Not-P
★ Genocide is not morally permissible.
★ Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is not
morally permissible.
★ Female Infanticide is not morally
permissible.
★ Carrying AK-47 in public is not morally
permissible.
★ Factory farming is not morally permissible.
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∴ P ≠ Not-P
(contradiction exists in false equivocation)

6. Descriptive Claim
★ Tells the fact of how one acts in society.
★ “One’s act is considered moral by a
culture if the act follows the culture’s
moral standards.”
Rebuttal: Cultural Relativism
Makes A Normative Claim, Not
Descriptive Claim
Normative Claim
★ Tells how one ought to act in society.
★ “One should act according to the moral
standards of one’s culture.”
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∴ Since Cultural Relativism makes a normative claim (ought
statement) about morality, identifying objective morality is
possible. Normative claims are not statements of facts.

7. Problematic Responses to
Cultural Relativism
In Intro to Ethics courses, cultural relativism is covered during the
first week of class to help students address the theory’s challenges.
★ Problem #1: Fear of being accused as colonialists/racists, many
students insist that cultural relativism is true and reject
evaluating moral standards. Only tolerance is possible.
★ Problem #2: Students have difficulty envisioning or relating to
the historical and environmental conditions/limitations that lead
to the development of moral beliefs.
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8. Morality Is Influenced by
Historical and Cultural
Conditions/Limitations
★ Inuit Eskimos, until 1980s, practiced female
infanticide and the killing of elders.
★ Due to harsh weather and environmental
conditions that rendered resources limited,
the Inuit Eskimos committed acts of killing
as population control; the purpose is ensure
group survival.
★ If we told the Inuit Eskimos of the past
that their practices are immoral, we are
failing to consider the conditions that
drove them to adopt such practices.
★ As conditions improve, today’s Inuit Eskimos
no longer kill the weak for survival purposes.
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9. A Teaching Solution
Use Digital Games as Simulations of a Culture and Its Conditions
to Challenge Moral Codes and Cultural Relativism.
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10. Why Games?
★ Reading and evaluating the logic of philosophical thought
experiments can be difficult. Games can serve as interactive thought
experiments that allow students to embody and perform a series
of actions while analyzing the in-game conditions that led to
actions performed within a cultural/social setting.
★ Having personal stake in surviving the game, students pay close
attention to the environmental and social conditions that constrain or
afford their play actions. This differs from reading a philosophical
thought experiment without having to embody the actions presented.
★ Gameplay represents performative response to simulated culture.
★ After play, students can reflect on the moral permissibility of their play
actions based on the cultural conditions present in the game.
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11. Since Most Games Are Fictional, How Do
Games Challenge Cultural Relativism?
★ As thought experiments, games can demonstrate that moral
standards, in any culture/society, fictional or not, are influenced by
various conditions. Addition or elimination of conditions throughout
time can encourage a culture to revise its moral standards.
★ Challenge to Cultural Relativism: It is not that moral standards of all
cultures are equally good, but that moral standards are relative to
conditions, not culture. Therefore, disagreements about moral standards
(as conditions change) are possible.
★ e.g. [Condition] Due to 19th century industrialization and inventions of
factories, U.S. and European governments made public schools available
to convert the poor masses into efficient factory workers. Making
education compulsory was considered an ethical act.
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12. Time for a Play Exercise 1
To participate in this play exercise, please access the
following Google Docs.
http://bit.ly/gamesconditions
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13. Let’s Play
“We Become What We Behold”
http://bit.ly/wbwwb3
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14. Time for a Play Exercise 2
To participate in this play exercise, please access the following
Google Docs.
http://bit.ly/gamesconditions2
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15. Let’s Play “Rations Please”
http://bit.ly/rationsplease
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16. Recommended Games
Long form and story-rich indie games recommended for study
of cultural conditions and the morality of actions.
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17. 17
“Distraint”
(Free + Ads)
(Android, iOS,
Nintendo Switch,
PS 4, MS Windows,
PS Vita, Steam)

18. 18
“My Child
Lebensborn
(Fount of Life)”
($2.99)
(Android, iOS)

19. 19
“Beholder”
($9.99)
(iOS, Android, MS
Windows, iOS,
Nintendo Switch,
Linux, macOS,
Steam)

20. 20
“Beholder 2”
($14.99)
(MS Windows,
Linux, macOS)

21. 21
“Pathologic 2”
($34.99)
(PS 4, MS
Windows, Xbox
One, Steam)

22. 22
“Inside”
($19.99)
(MS Windows,
PS 4, Nintendo
Switch, Xbox
One, iOS, Steam)

23. More Game Recommendations
See my 2018 “Ethics and Games” series to discover more games that can be
used to teach moral philosophies and theories of ethics.
“Ethics and Games”
http://bit.ly/ethicsandgames
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THANKS!Sherry Jones
★ Philosophy + Games Studies SME Instructor, Rocky Mountain
College of Art + Design.
★ Steering Committee Board Member, International Game
Developers Association (IGDA) - Learning, Games + Education.
★ Judge, Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE
Awards - Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Games +
Gamification in Education.
★ Officer, IEEE Computer, Information Theory + Robotics Society.
★ Twitter @ autnes
★ Bio @ http://bit.ly/sherryjonesbio
★ Slides @ http://bit.ly/playconditions

25. CREDITS
Special thanks to all the people who made and
released these awesome resources for free:
❑ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
❑ Photographs by Unsplash
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