.
This brings me to Midgley's first question: Does the isolating barrier work both ways? Are people in other cultures equally unable to criticize us?"(Midgley, 78). Midgley also asks if it becomes possible for relativists to praise cultures since criticism is forbidden. It seems awkward to think that anyone, even a moral isolationist, would condemn good comments about another culture's customs. It seems equally awkward to think that a person could effectively judge another culture with mere praise and not criticism as well. Praising the samurai for their actions would hold no weight if the compliment were based on empty assumptions and ignorance.
Midgley then inquires as to what is involved in forming opinions. "Judging simply means forming an opinion, and expressing it if it is called for"(Midgley, 79). Again she emphasizes the importance of knowledge of the action questioned before passing judgement on it. For an ignorant judgement based on superficial observation is not a worthy opinion. Midgley states, "naturally, we ought to avoid forming-and expressing-crude opinions like that of a simple-minded missionary, who might dismiss the whole samurai culture as entirely bad, because non-Christian"(Midgley, 79).
Midgley also questions, "If we cant judge other cultures, can we really judge our own?" If we do not inquire and fulfill our curiosities about outer cultures, she argues, we will be unable to consider our own culture because passing judgements "provide the range of comparison [and] the spectrum of alternatives against which we set what we want to understand"(Midgley, 79). Furthermore, Midgley claims that our own culture was formed with the influences of other cultures. We would not be able to reason with our own morals if we practice moral isolationism, "The power of moral judgement is, in fact, not a luxury, just a perverse indulgence of the self-righteous. It is a necessity"(Midgley, 79).
