The Makah tribe claim to have hunted gray whales for more than 2,000 years. They

Question

The Makah tribe claim to have hunted gray whales for more than 2,000 years. They stopped in the 1920’s
due a decline in the number of gray whales. Now they want to return to the hunt to provide food flor
their tribe and to restore the young men’s sense of discipline and pride in their traditions. Proponents of
the hunt claim that a majority of the tribe support the hunt, which is expected to take fewer than the
five whales they are permitted by law to kill. Tribal leaders claim they will take no pregnant or nursing
females. Some Makah elders disagree, however, pointing out that the tribe survived for most of the
twentieth century without eating whale meat and claiming that there are better ways to install pride and
discipline. The environmental community argues that the whale hunt is immoral because violates the
whales’ right to exist on the planet. Is it appropriate for nonmembers of the Makah tribe- for example,
students in your class to evaluate the morality of the Makah whale hunt ? explain.

Explanation / Answer

Killing and hunting whales just to show pride and discipline is outrageously wrong. These Makkah people might claim that this is a part of THEIR traditions and people outside the tribe will not understand their views and emotions. But just to ask, is it correct for them to attach killing with culture. Yes, it is correct for someone outside of their group, like us - the students, to comment on their case, as morality is not something that is limited to one particular tribe. Joshua Greene in his book named the Moral tribes talks of the same problem. According to him, we humans had been made such that we would all assert for cooperation. We have been made to as to cooperate with one another, but sadly this cooperation has been only limited to particular tribes and have now been started to be called morality. Therefore, morality here would ask the students to comment, as ultimately all of us are human. What the Makah tribe has built amongst themselves are certain norms, which the older adults and the staunch followers do not want to deviate from, and thus they name it as the MORALITY OF THEIR TRIBE. Thus, people outside their tribe can evaluate, though maybe not comply with their norms.

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