more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 23675

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 2. Golden Rule ]

Full Idea

It is a first principle of morals, that we ought not to do to another what we should think wrong to be done to us in like circumstances.

Gist of Idea

We shouldn't do to others what would be a wrong to us in similar circumstances

Source

Thomas Reid (Essays on Active Powers 3: Princs of action [1788], 6)

Book Ref

Reid,Thomas: 'Inquiry and Essays', ed/tr. Beanblossom /K.Lehrer [Hackett 1983], p.321

A Reaction

This negative form of the rule is more plausible than the positive form, presumably because there is more consensus about what we all dislike than what we all prefer. But presents for people that they would like, not that you like.

The 14 ideas with the same theme [treat others as you would like to be treated]:

7360 Do not do to others what you would not desire yourself [Kongzi (Confucius)]
23394 If people regarded other states as they did their own, they would never attack them [Mozi]
7350 The Torah just says: do not do to your neighbour what is hateful to you [Hillel the Elder]
5356 Treat others as you would have them treat you [Jesus]
5337 For Hobbes the Golden Rule concerns not doing things, whereas Jesus encourages active love [Hobbes, by Flanagan]
12934 We can't want everyone to have more than their share, so a further standard is needed [Leibniz]
7844 The Golden Rule is accepted everywhere, and gives a fixed target for morality [Voltaire]
19768 The better Golden Rule is 'do good for yourself without harming others' [Rousseau]
23675 We shouldn't do to others what would be a wrong to us in similar circumstances [Reid]
3733 The 'golden rule' cannot be a universal law as it implies no duties [Kant]
20246 If you feel to others as they feel to themselves, you must hate a self-hater [Nietzsche]
4560 The Golden Rule prohibits harmful actions, with the premise that actions will be requited [Nietzsche]
21030 The categorical imperative is not the Golden Rule, which concerns contingent desires [Sandel]
2856 Universal moral judgements imply the Golden Rule ('do as you would be done by') [Hooker,B]