The Golden Rule / Jeffrey Wattles.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wattles, Jeffrey.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Golden rule--Comparative studies.

Golden rule.

Genre:

Comparative studies.

Physical Description:

viii, 257 pages 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.

Summary:

The golden rule, "Do to others as you want others to do to you," is widely assumed to have a single, obvious meaning, shared by virtually all the world's religions and by secular ethics as well. Wattles surveys the diverse historical contexts of the golden rule to show how it acquires new meaning from each of the cultural struggles in which the rule has functioned. He explores the rule taught by Confucius, emerging in Plato and Aristotle, and used in classical Jewish literature and the New Testament. He then moves on to consider medieval, Reformation, and modern theological and philosophical responses and objections to the rule. In addition, Wattles relates how some early twentieth-century American leaders put the rule into practice and how various psychological theories interpret the imaginative role reversal the rule suggests. Wattles concludes by offering his own synthesis of these interpretations, showing how the rule symbolizes a contemporary "ethics of relationship" on several levels of meaning. Emotionally, the rule counsels consideration for others' feelings by asking that you "place yourself in the other person's shoes." Intellectually, it activates moral thinking about what is fair. Spiritually, it makes its appeal as "the principle of the practice of the family of God."

Contents:

I. Histories of the Golden Rule

2 A Confucian Path from Conscientiousness to Spontaneity 15

3 From Greek Reciprocity to Cosmopolitan Idealism 27

4 A Jewish Rule of Wisdom 42

5 A New Testament Rule of Divine Love 52

6 A Theological Principle 68

7 Modern Objections and Responses: From the Religious to the Secular 77

8 The Golden Rule of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man 90

9 In the Other Person's Shoes 105

10 A Principle of Consistency in Moral Decision Making 122

11 A Principle of Sensitivity and Respect 141

12 Twentieth-Century Religious Interpretations 155

II. An Ethics of the Golden Rule

13 The Golden Rule in a Philosophy of Morality 165

14 Religious Dimensions of the Golden Rule 182.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0195101871

0195110366

OCLC:

33864990