RE: The "New Golden Rule"

Sean Parker (seanp@uu.net)
Fri, 15 Jan 1999 23:07:03 -0500

The old golden rule was fine, the only issue is a semantic one. This "new" rule loses its bang because it ignores the relationship between you and your fellow man. Arguably, this "projective" capacity is the foundation of the rule to begin with. The idea, as expressed by modern cog sci scholars, goes something like this: We developed the ability to hold a model of the world around us in our heads to make decisions, and as a byproduct of this "projective" ability, we learned to project, or model, our own experience of humanity to other humans...i.e. creating a model of what its like to be us and projecting it on them.

Forget multiculturalism, thats just a small example of the differences that arise between our subjective, lonely, isolated minds. Even people who share a similar cultural heritage have differing wants and needs, so different in fact, that we cannot begin to second guess their desires. Descarte understood this when he articulated the golden rule as he did...

Do unto others _just as_ you would have them do unto you. The statement is intended more to express the ideal relationship between individuals than to dictate specific behaviors. It can be processed on many levels. i.e. "I will give you, Mr. Pacifist, a punch in the face because I would have you punch me, Mr. Masochist, in the face." but by that same token, "I will not do to you, Mr. Pacifist, what you do not want me, Mr. Masochist, to do to you, because I would not do to you, what I would not want you to do to me."

The golden rule should be seen to operate on this second, "higher level"... Maybe somebody out there could better express what I'm trying to get at with this.

Sean

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.com
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.com]On Behalf Of Scott Badger
> Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 1999 6:15 PM
> To: extropians@extropy.com
> Subject: Re: The "New Golden Rule"
>
>
>
> Mark D. Fulwiler <mfulwiler@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
> >Scott Badger wrote:
> >
> >> Multiculturalism has made us aware that
> >>the old Golden Rule no longer applies. The new Golden
> >>Rule is:
> >
> >
> >>"Do unto others as they would have you do unto them."
> >
> >What if someone asks you to kill them? Or what if they would have you
> >give them all your money? Clearly this "New Golden Rule"
> still has some
> >major problems. :-)
> >
> >Mark Fulwiler
> >
>
> Agreed. Do you have an improved version that overcomes
> the problem of conflicting values in cross-cultural exchanges?
>
> I am not personally inclined to offer my respect to any culture's
> mores simply because "that's their way". Many cultures have
> "ways" of hurting and denigrating their members (especially the
> women, but males too). But we've already discussed this issue
> fairly recently, so I'll stop here.
>
> Scott
>
>