Meta-Ethical Contextual Position

In any push-and-pull intercultural ethical decision-making situation, we often have to make difficult choices between upholding our own cultural beliefs and values and considering the values of the other culture. We also have to ponder intention, behavior/process, outcome, and larger consequence issues on the individual, community, and global levels. Ethics is defined as a community’s perspective on what is good and bad in human conduct, which leads to prescriptive norms that guide behaviors or actions in a system. Ethics is a set of standards that upholds the community’s expectations concerning “right” and “wrong” conduct. To be a competent intercultural communicator, mastering the standards of right and wrong conduct is an essential feature that undergirds cognitive, affective, and behavioral competence in a particular cultural context.

However, the ...