2.2.2. The “Golden Rule”#
One widespread ethical principle is what English speakers sometimes call the “Golden Rule [b8]”:
“Tsze-kung asked, saying, ‘Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?’ The Master said, ‘Is not reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.’”
Confucius, Analects 15.23 [b9] (~500 BCE China)
“There is nothing dearer to man than himself; therefore, as it is the same thing that is dear to you and to others, hurt not others with what pains yourself.”
Gautama Buddha, Udānavarga 5:18 [b10] (~500 BCE Nepal/India)
“That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation.”
Hillel the Elder, Talmud Shabbat, folio 33a [b11] (~0 CE Palestine)
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 7:12 [b12] (~30 CE Palestine)