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The Golden Rule

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2009

Marcus G. Singer
Marcus G. Singer
Affiliation:
The University of Wisconsin
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Extract

The Golden Rule has received remarkably little philosophical discussion. No book has ever been written on it, and articles devoted to it have been exceedingly few, and usually not very searching. It is usually mentioned, where it is mentioned at all, only in passing, and most of these passing remarks have either been false, trite, or misleading, though some of them, as we shall see, have certainly been interesting enough. Considering its obvious importance and its almost universal acceptance, this dearth of philosophical discussion is unfortunate, and also somewhat surprising. One of the things I hope to show about it, though only incidentally, is that there are problems connected with it of the utmost subtlety, worthy of the attention of even the most minute philosophers

Type
Articles
Information
Philosophy , Volume 38 , Issue 146 , October 1963 , pp. 293 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1963

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References

page 294 note 1 Thomas, Hobbes, Leviathan (Everyman's Library; London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1914),Google Scholarch. XV, par. 35, page 82; ch. XIV, par. 4, p. 67. See also ch. XVII, par. 2, p. 87: 'For the Lawes of Nature (as Justice, Equity, Modesty, Mercy, and (in summe) doing to others, as wee would be done to,) …”.Google Scholar

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page 310 note 1 Cf. Baier, op cit., p. 202: ‘When we teach children the moral point of view, we try to explain it to them by getting them to put themselves in another person's place: “How would you like to have that done to you!” ’Google Scholar

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page 314 note 1 A somewhat abbreviated version of this paper was read to the Oxford University Philosophical Society in February 1963. Mr Hare, R. M., who opened the discussion, raised some very acute questions in his reply. But, with some minor exceptions, I have not attempted to deal with them here, mainly because to do so would have required undue expansion. The same goes for many of the very good points made in the ensuing discussion.Google Scholar