{"id":200,"date":"2011-12-01T00:29:33","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T04:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/?p=200"},"modified":"2019-03-24T07:17:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T11:17:27","slug":"doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing Unto Others: Misunderstanding the Golden Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though it is highly controversial to publicly point to Christ’s teaching on things like divorce when indicating how we ought to live, “the golden rule” seems fair game for conservative & liberal, Christian & secularist alike.\u00a0 In a sense, this is hardly surprising.\u00a0 The golden rule can and has been espoused apart from Christ’s instruction, and it’s a common element of many ethical systems.\u00a0 At the same time, however, it is amazing that such a ubiquitous ethical concept is so frequently misunderstood–a fact that might also contribute to it’s uncontroversial nature.<\/p>\n

J. Budziszewski pegged the problem perfectly in The Revenge of Conscience<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 There are any number of people who attempt to understand “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” as though it actually said, “Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.”\u00a0 The former teaches us to treat others well by hijacking what comes far more naturally to us–treating ourselves well.\u00a0 The latter, however, is simply a mechanism for relinquishing all responsibility for our behavior onto the desires of another.\u00a0 It matters not whether what we do is right, only whether it makes somebody else happy.\u00a0 Of course, the practical reality of competing desires among different people means we decide on our own which desires we actually submit to.\u00a0 Unsurprisingly, our choices are usually self-serving.\u00a0 In the end, “Do unto others as they would have you do unto them” is merely license to do whatever we want as long as we have an accomplice.\u00a0 Should we support legalized abortion?\u00a0 Well, millions of women want them, so I guess we’d better.\u00a0 Should I care for my sick grandfather?\u00a0 Well, he says he doesn’t want to be a bother and I don’t want to be bothered, so I guess I’d better not.\u00a0 Is it okay to fornicate with my girlfriend?\u00a0 Well, we both want to, so I guess it’s fine.\u00a0 Misunderstood this way, the golden rule becomes a convenient justification for nearly any course of action at all, and a useful tool to advance nearly any ideology.<\/p>\n

It’s an easy mistake to make because so many of us presume utilitarianism to be the proper basis for ethics–the greatest pleasure for the greatest number of people.\u00a0 In such a framework, “what you would have them do unto you” merely means “what you want.”\u00a0 And if you want others to do what you want, then the golden rule means you should, in turn, do what they want.\u00a0 The problem is that even a cursory reading of Christ’s teachings surrounding the golden rule preclude this.\u00a0 In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), which contains the golden rule, Jesus spends far more time teaching how to judge what is good.\u00a0 He condemns lust & divorce, tells us how we should fast and pray, tells us not to worry about food & clothing, and so forth.\u00a0 In short, he tells us all about what we ought <\/em>to want.\u00a0 How then can we take the golden rule to mean acceding to wants of others which may or may not have any basis in how we ought<\/em> to want?\u00a0 At the end of the day, Jesus and his disciples were most certainly not utilitarians.<\/p>\n

We all desire both good things and bad things–often at the same time.\u00a0 Our good judgment helps us to avoid sinful indulgence by discerning the difference.\u00a0 Indeed, many of Christ’s teachings instruct us on how to make such judgments well.\u00a0 When we misunderstand the golden rule, we don’t just try to put ourselves in another person’s circumstances–we try to put ourselves in their mind, character, and preferences to such an extent that we are not putting ourselves<\/em> anywhere at all.\u00a0 This is not what we are called to do.\u00a0 The golden rule is intended to improve our judgment on how to treat others, not replace that judgment with a poll of what they want.\u00a0 And so, because we would not have others indulge us in our sins, we should not indulge others in theirs, even if that’s what they want.\u00a0 Because we would have our needs met before our wants, we should help meet the needs of others.\u00a0 It’s an unfortunate condition to want what’s bad for us.\u00a0 But because that is<\/em> our condition much of the time, we must seek do good <\/em>to others as well as we can–not just cater to their wants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though it is highly controversial to publicly point to Christ’s teaching on things like divorce when indicating how we ought to live, “the golden rule” seems fair game for conservative & liberal, Christian & secularist alike.\u00a0 In a sense, this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDoing Unto Others: Misunderstanding the Golden Rule - The 96th Thesis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doing Unto Others: Misunderstanding the Golden Rule - The 96th Thesis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Though it is highly controversial to publicly point to Christ’s teaching on things like divorce when indicating how we ought to live, “the golden rule” seems fair game for conservative & liberal, Christian & secularist alike.\u00a0 In a sense, this … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The 96th Thesis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-01T04:29:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-24T11:17:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@matt_e_cochran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@matt_e_cochran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matt\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/026b49396f19b6940e8bb4a68d94b5fa\"},\"headline\":\"Doing Unto Others: Misunderstanding the Golden Rule\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-01T04:29:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-24T11:17:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/\"},\"wordCount\":735,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/026b49396f19b6940e8bb4a68d94b5fa\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Ethics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/\",\"name\":\"Doing Unto Others: Misunderstanding the Golden Rule - The 96th Thesis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-01T04:29:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-24T11:17:27+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/doing-unto-others-misunderstanding-the-golden-rule\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Doing Unto Others: Misunderstanding the Golden Rule\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The 96th Thesis\",\"description\":\"The Devil Never Sleeps; 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