I do intend to continue to use this blog for posting my personal stuff, as well as for the discussion stuff which seems to have taken off amongst The Erics chattering class.
As we have been discussing morals etc I thought I would introduce this:
The Golden Rule –
Treat others the way you wish to be treated
Here is a short essay from http://www.jcu.edu/philosophy/gensler/goldrule.htm
About the golden rule.
The golden rule is endorsed by all the great world religions; Jesus, Hillel, and Confucius used it to summarize their ethical teachings. And for many centuries the idea has been influential among people of very diverse cultures. These facts suggest that the golden rule may be an important moral truth.
Let's consider an example of how the rule is used. President Kennedy in 1963 appealed to the golden rule in an anti-segregation speech at the time of the first black enrollment at the University of Alabama. He asked whites to consider what it would be like to be treated as second class citizens because of skin color. Whites were to imagine themselves being black - and being told that they couldn't vote, or go to the best public schools, or eat at most public restaurants, or sit in the front of the bus. Would whites be content to be treated that way? He was sure that they wouldn't - and yet this is how they treated others. He said the "heart of the question is ... whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated."
The golden rule is best interpreted as saying: "Treat others only in ways that you're willing to be treated in the same exact situation." To apply it, you'd imagine yourself in the exact place of the other person on the receiving end of the action. If you act in a given way toward another, and yet are unwilling to be treated that way in the same circumstances, then you violate the rule.
To apply the golden rule adequately, we need knowledge and imagination. We need to know what effect our actions have on the lives of others. And we need to be able to imagine ourselves, vividly and accurately, in the other person's place on the receiving end of the action. With knowledge, imagination, and the golden rule, we can progress far in our moral thinking.
The golden rule is best seen as a consistency principle. It doesn't replace regular moral norms. It isn't an infallible guide on which actions are right or wrong; it doesn't give all the answers. It only prescribes consistency - that we not have our actions (toward another) be out of harmony with our desires (toward a reversed situation action). It tests our moral coherence. If we violate the golden rule, then we're violating the spirit of fairness and concern that lie at the heart of morality.
The golden rule, with roots in a wide range of world cultures, is well suited to be a standard to which different cultures could appeal in resolving conflicts. As the world becomes more and more a single interacting global community, the need for such a common standard is becoming more urgent.
Is this what we are looking for? An over arching moral code? I certainly try (and usually fail) to live by it.
1 comment:
The ability to do what you two are descibing is what distinguishes us from the animals. However we are at out core animals none the less. All the tyears of civilising influence we have had cant stop all of us falling back on our animal instincts on occasions. As both of you have said, sometimes this is quite correct.
I have noticed that all of us who contribute do tend to struggle a bit to make our point clear in this written medium. Wish I had done more of this kind of writing over the years! - The crucial point in this discussion for me, is that 'as you wish to be treated' bit includes the occasions were I wouldnt want somone to allow themselves to be walked all over by me or anyone else. That is why, as I think Phil has identified the golden rule is a better code than 'always put others first' because it holds out the posibility that that might not be the best thing for either party.
.......i think (is that clear?)
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