Do you agree with Richard Dawkins?

[Jinkies]

Culture is just what people do. Culture doesn't give reasons as to why things are done.

To study a culture is to study meaning. Cultures most definitely do give explanations/justifications of the 'why' of things, which give meaning to most of our actions.

It's possible to study the origins of beliefs and behaviors in a culture. The origins aren't necessarily part of the culture, though, even if they are sometimes tied in (like with Christianity). Culture simply refers to the beliefs and behaviors of a group. When a person says he acts a certain way due to cultural reasons, he doesn't mean that he examined all of the thoughts that went into forming his culture's beliefs and came to a reasoned conclusion. He means he acts that way because other people in his culture also act that way.

Here's the relevant bit of the post I originally responded to for an example of what I mean:

Do you think asking me, a Korean, to quit eating meat is ethical? The Korean culture regards meat consumption as a privilege. Our food is rich with meat dishes. We have a seaweed and beef soup dish that we eat on our birthdays. Also, sticking to the roots, we don't waste the excess animal parts. Where do you think all this "exotic" food comes from? Down to the tongue. Is it ethical for you to ask me to give up what is literally a part of my culture? Do you know what my father would say to me if I became a vegan? He'd think that I'm very spoiled and ungrateful because when he was my age, meat was very hard to come by.

There is no logic or reason there. His argument is that it's unethical to make people stop performing an act simply because those people perform that act. It's a ridiculous non-argument that anyone who values reason should be ashamed to present. This is what people mean when they say they do things for cultural reasons. People who use logic and reason to evaluate options and make decisions are not doing things for cultural reasons.