Day 122

Perhaps the most well-known moral maxim is the golden rule: treat others as you would wish to be treated by them.

It is more popular than, for example, the Utliltarian principle that we ought to maximize happiness.

It is more popular than Kant's imperative to "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

And it most certainly more popular than my personal favorite by contractualist Thomas Scanlon: "An act is wrong if its performance under the circumstances would be disallowed by any set of principles for the general regulation of behaviour that no one could reasonably reject as a basis for informed, unforced, general agreement."

Note that the length and complexity of the maxims are inversely proportional to their popularity.

But it would seem upon observation of how people behave in daily life that the Golden Rule has a rather rusty antithesis, in the form of "you did it too" reasoning. We justify (or ignore) our bad actions on account of ourselves being alleged victims of the same actions of others. It's ok that I lied to you, because you lied to me! You can't blame me for stealing, because you're also a thief!

Or... It is ok to do performance enhancing drugs, because all the other athletes do them already; I'm just trying to play on the same level.

Or... Every other company outsources labour to the third world, mine must do it as well to keep up.

Or... Barack Obama may have a crazy pastor, but what about John McCain's crazy anti-catholic pastor?

Watch the news, watch people in your life. Watch how people barter and agree and argue with each other. This maxim is everywhere: "An action is permissible if you are already the recipient of that same action by another, or if the action falls into a norm." And further: "It is wrong to criticize a person for an action which you have perviously committed (or are committing)."

Of course both of these are completely off the mark. Wrong is wrong; the actions of another person cannot and do not absolve you of responsibility for you own (here's looking at you, Christianity). And nor should you let your own imperfections stop you from holding others to a high standard when you feel justifiably compelled to do so.

These two statements seem very obvious, but we live as though they are both false.

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