Reply #160: Definitions of GOLDEN RULE [View All]

[Ytzak]

Definitions of GOLDEN RULE on the Web:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7PCTA&defl=en&q=define:GOLDEN+RULE&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
An almost universal principle of ethics, the ‘Golden Rule’ is summarized by the phrase “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you ...
http://www.eubios.info/biodict.htm

or

http://www.answers.com/topic/golden-rule?nr=1&nrls=1
golden rule
n.
The biblical teaching that one should behave toward others as one would have others behave toward oneself.

or

http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/general/bldef_goldenrule.htm
The "golden rule" is an ethical principle which has appeared in various religions all over the world. One of the most famous formulations comes from Christianity: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Other formulations include:

Ancient Greece:
"Do not do unto others what angers you if done to you by others."
--Isocrates (436-338 BCE)

"Refraining from doing what we blame in others." --Thales (quoted in Diogenes Laertius, vol I, page 39)
Bahá'í:
"Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not." "Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself."
--Baha'u'llah

"And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself."
--Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
Buddhism:
"A state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?"
--Samyutta Nikaya v. 353

"Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful."
--Udana-Varga 5:18

"Comparing oneself to others in such terms as Just as I am so are they, just as they are so am I, he should neither kill nor cause others to kill."
--Buddhism. Sutta Nipata 705

"Conquer anger by love. Conquer evil by good. Conquer the stingy by giving. Conquer the liar by truth."
--Dhammapada
Christianity:
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
--Matthew 7:12

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
--Matthew 22.36-40

It seems to me the definitions are pretty clear.

Certainly, you don't have to be religous to see the "golden rule" as one of the basic rules that makes life among inteligent social animals better. But then again, within social groups, God is such a good idea that if one didn't exist it would have been invented.