Ethic of reciprocity

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The ethic of reciprocity (or the Golden Rule) is a general moral principle found in virtually all religions and culture, often as a fundamental rule, a fact which suggests that it may be related to innate aspects of human nature (see altruism). It is most commonly rendered as "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

  • In most formulations it takes a passive form, as expressed by the Jewish sage Hillel: "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man."
  • In Western culture, however, the most famous formulation is active, as expressed in the Torah as "love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18).

This traditional guiding rule was (and is) so highly valued that it has for centuries been known in English as the "Golden Rule".

Contents

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Principle

The ethic of reciprocity, or Golden Rule of ethics can be best understood in term of what it is not.

Firstly, the ethic of reciprocity should not be confused with tit for tat, revenge, an eye for an eye, retributive justice or the law of retaliation. A key element of the ethic of reciprocity is that a person attempting to live by this rule treats all people, not just members of his or her in-group, with consideration.

Secondly, the ethics of reciprocity should not be confused with another major ethical principle, often known as Wiccan Rede, harm principle, or liberty principle (non-aggression principle) which is an ethical prohibition against aggression. This rule is also an ethical rule of "licence" or "right", that is people can do anything they like as long as it does not harm others. This rule does not compel one to help the other in need. On the other hand, "the golden rule is a good standard which is further improved by doing unto others, wherever possible, as they want to be done by." Karl Popper (The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 2)

Lastly, the ethic of reciprocity or Golden Rule of ethics, should not be confused with a "rule" in the semantic or logical sense. A logical loophole in the positive form of Golden "rule" is that it would require a masochist to harm others, even without their consent, if that is what the masochist would wish for themselves. This loophole can be addressed by invoking a supplementary rule, which is sometimes called the silver rule. This states "treat others in the way that they wish to be treated". However, the silver rule may create another logical loophole. In a situation where an individual's background or belief may offend the sentiment of the majority, the silver rule may imply ethical majoritarianism if the Golden rule is enforced as if it were a law. An absurd example may be Adolf Hitler's reference to Otto Weininger, which was something in the effect of "There was only one decent Jew, and he killed himself." Weininger was a Christian convert with Jewish background who was well known for his view about supposed superiority of Christianity and Christian character over Judaism and Jewishness.

Under ethic of reciprocity, a person of atheist persuation may have a (legal) right to insult religion under the right of freedom of expression but, as a personal choice, may refrain to do so in public out of respect to the sensitivity of the other. Conversely, a person of religious persuation may refrain from taking action against such public display out of respect to the sensitivity of other about the right of freedom of speech. Conversely, the lack of mutual respect might mean that each side might deliberately violate the golden rule as a provocation (to assert one's right) or as an intimidation (to prevent other from making offence).

It is clear that most religious understandings of the principle imply its use as a virtue toward greater love and mutual respect for one's neighbour rather than as a deontological or consequentialist rule. Most of us know that different people have different faith or ideological belief, different preferences concerning sex or other matters, and may belong to different cultural heritage. Therefore, the golden rule depends on everyone's ability to understand and give respect to such difference. George Bernard Shaw once said that "The golden rule is that there are no golden rules".

This understanding is crucial because it shows how to apply the golden rule. In 1963, John F. Kennedy ordered Alabama National Guardsmen to help admit two clearly qualified Negro students to the University of Alabama. In his speech that evening JFK appealed to every American to "stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents" throughout America." If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, .... then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place?" .... "The heart of the question is .... whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated."

It could be argued that the ethics of reciprocity may replace all other moral principles or at least that it is superior to it. This guiding rule may or may not explictly tell one which actions or treatments are right or wrong. But the golden rule can provide one with moral coherence -- it is a consistency principle. One's actions are to be consistent with mutual love and respect to other fellow humans. Arising as it does in nearly all written-language cultures on the Earth, the ethic of reciprocity is a tool that differing cultures can readily use in handling conflicts. Given the modern global trend of political, social, and economic integration (see globalisation), the golden rule of ethic may be becoming even more relevant and important than ever.

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Reciprocal altruism and Tit for tat

In evolutionary biology, reciprocal altruism is a form of altruism in which one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. This is equivalent to the Tit for tat strategy in game theory for the iterated prisoner's dilemma. Four main conditions of the strategy are

1. Unless provoked, the agent will always cooperate
2. If provoked, the agent will retaliate
3. The agent is quick to forgive
4. The agent must have a 2/3 chance of competing against the opponent more than once.

For several decades Tit-for-Tat was the most effective strategy for playing the game, winning in annual automated tournaments against (generally far more complex) strategies created by teams of computer scientists, economists, and psychologists. Moreover, Tit-for-Tat still is the most effective strategy if you compare the average performance of each competing team. Game theorists informally believed the strategy to be optimal (although no proof was presented).

This implies that ethics of reciprocity may be somewhat compatible with both reciprocal altruism and cooperative egoism providing philosophical middle ground between ethical altruism and ethical egoism. However, it should be noted that in the game of iterated prisoner's dilemma, each players are set as equal. If one player is dominant in the game from the outset, it may be advantageous for such a player to abandon the cooperation and betray other players, resulting in a suboptimal outcome from the collective point of view.

The ethics of reciprocity, on the other hand, presuppose from the outset that everyone is equal no matter what. However, many actual articulations of ethics of reciprocity in history provide an exemption in the context of the violation of cooperation from the other party. This indicates that the golden rule may have had significant utilitarian justification as well as deontological justification.

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Right and Duty

Template:Sect-stub Deontological ethics (from the Greek Deon meaning obligation) or Deontology is an ethical theory holding that decisions should be made solely or primarily by considering one's duties and the rights of others. Deontology posits the existence of a priori moral obligations, further suggesting that people ought to live by a set of permanently defined principles that do not change merely as a result of a change in circumstances.

Secondly, the ethics of reciprocity should not be confused with another major ethical principle, often known as Wiccan Rede, harm principle, or liberty principle (non-aggression principle) which is an ethical prohibition against aggression. This rule is also an ethical rule of "licence" or "right", that is people can do anything they like as long as it does not harm others. This rule does not compel one to help the other in need. On the other hand, "the golden rule is a good standard which is further improved by doing unto others, wherever possible, as they want to be done by." Karl Popper (The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 2)

Lastly, the ethic of reciprocity or Golden Rule of ethics, should not be confused with a "rule" in the semantic or logical sense. A logical loophole in the positive form of Golden "rule" is that it would require a masochist to harm others, even without their consent, if that is what the masochist would wish for themselves. This loophole can be addressed by invoking a supplementary rule, which is sometimes called the silver rule. This states "treat others in the way that they wish to be treated". However, the silver rule may create another logical loophole. In a situation where an individual's background or belief may offend the sentiment of the majority (such as homosexuality or blasphemy), the silver rule may imply ethical majoritarianism if the Golden rule is enforced as if it were a law. An absurd example may be Adolf Hitler's reference to Otto Weininger, which was something in the effect of "There was only one decent Jew, and he killed himself." Weininger was a Christian convert with Jewish background who was well known for his view about supposed superiority of Christianity and Christian character over Judaism and Jewishness.

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Religion

Variations of the Golden Rule in Spiritual Traditions Around The World.

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Hinduism

"Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you" (Mahabharata 5:15:17)

"One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality. All other activities are due to selfish desire." - Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva, 113.8

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Buddhism

Ethics of reciprocity is fundamental to Buddhism. This is partly due to the fact that Buddhism, unlike theistic religions, does not rely on divine revelation. Therefore, in Buddhism, all aspects of teaching are regarded as wisdom rather than supernaturally derived and are to be undertaken voluntarily rather than as "commandments." For example, the first of the Five Precepts (Panca-sila) of Buddhism is to abstain from destruction of life. The justification of the precept is given in Chapter 10 of the Dhammapada, which states:

"Everyone fears punishment; everyone fears death, just as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill. Everyone fears punishment; everyone loves life, as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill."

According to the second of Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, egoism (desire, craving or attachment) are rooted in ignorance and is considered as the cause of all suffering. Consequently, kindness, compassion and equanimity is regarded as the untainted aspect of human nature.

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Judaism

Here, the Golden Rule, as it became known to later Western tradition, finds its origin. The 18th verse of Leviticus 19, in the Old Testament, states, "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." This is one of the most famous and oft-quoted principles from the entire Bible. Another significant statement in Judaism concerning the Ethic of reciprocity is uttered by Hillel the Elder (Talmud, Shabbat 31a).

"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary."
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Christianity

The ethic of reciprocity is the essence of the teaching of Christianity. Key Biblical texts on the subject of the ethic of reciprocity include (here quoted from the New International Version):

Part of the Lord's Prayer:
Forgive us our [debts], as we forgive our [debtors]. (Some translations of Matthew have debts or trespasses, while Luke has sins)
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31)
“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19; 22:39) (Mark 12:31) (Luke 10:27) Romans (13:9) (James 2:8)
“The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:14)
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Confucianism

"What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others."
—Confucius, c. 500 B.C.

According to Wing-tsit Chan's A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, the ethic of reciprocity appears in the Analects of Confucius, Chapter 4, in the discussion of i-kuan (pinyin: yi guan), the "one thread" that combines chung (altruism) and shu (conscientiousness):

Confucian teachings may be summed up in the phrase "one thread" (i-kuan), but Confucianists have not agreed on what it means....All agree, however on the meanings of chung and shu, which are best expressed by Chu Hsi, namely, chung means the full development of one's [originally good] mind and shu means the extension of that mind to others. As Ch'eng I put it, chung is the Way of Heaven, whereas shu is the way of man; the former is substance, while the latter is function. Liu Pao-nan is correct in equating chung with Confucius' saying, "Establish one's own character," and shu with "Also establish the character of others." Here is the positive version of the Confucian golden rule.

Liu Pao-nan is citing Analects 6:28, but according to Dr. Chan, the same principle appears in Analects 14:45: "To cultivate oneself so as to give all people security and peace, even Yao and Shun found it difficult to do."

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Islam

"No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself."

—Sunnah
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Bahá'í

"Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself."

—Bahá'u'lláh
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History

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Effects of the Golden Rule on politics

  • It is said that China, in its long history, did not concern itself much with the expansion of its national boundary due to the Chinese devotion to the Golden Rule as taught by Confucius.
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Footnotes

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See also

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External links

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Practical applications of the golden rule to our real world problems

  1. Application to racism in the United States in 1963, 1964, partly described in the text and the above Template:Ref harvard[1c].
  2. Application to terrorism.
  3. UNESCO report on global ethics.
  4. A sample of applications to business. The golden rule is also in business books, e.g., the Blackwell book in the above Template:Ref harvard[2b].
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The general application of the golden rule

  1. Bill McGinnis's Committee for the Golden Rule.
  2. How to conduct a workshop on the golden rule.
  3. Application to moral education.
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Other external links

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