The golden rule says: ‘Treat others as you want to be treated’. This article organizes contemporary interpretations of the rule into three groups: the ‘material’ golden rule, the ‘relativistic’ golden rule, and the ‘formal’ golden rule. The article also argues that (a) the relativistic golden rule is the weakest, (b) the formal golden rule is virtually irrefutable, (c) the material golden rule is less evident than the formal one, but not necessarily false and (d) the formal golden rule and the (...) material golden rule are not incompatible—they can complement each other. This assumes that the substantive assumptions of the material golden rule are real. (shrink)

According to the so-called golden rule, we ought to treat others as we want to be treated by them. This rule, in one form or another, is part of every major religion, and it has been accepted by many philosophers with various ethical views. However, if the literal golden rule is interpreted as an absolute rule, it is problematic. In this paper, I introduce a new version of this famous principle that is similar to various classical definitions. According to this (...) variant, the rule can be formulated in the following way: If you want it to be the case that if x were in your situation and you were in x’s situation then x would do H to you, and you have a good will, then you ought to do H to x. I show how this version can be derived from a small set of highly plausible premises, and I defend it against some of the most interesting and/or common objections against the golden rule in the literature. I conclude that we have good reason to believe in this rendition of the principle. (shrink)