Isn't the golden rule kind of ambiguous?

Question

I mean, what if I'm into masochism?

Answer 1

I agree. Major loophole.

Answer 2

Ambiguous defined:
1 a : doubtful or uncertain especially from obscurity or indistinctness b : INEXPLICABLE
2 : capable of being understood in two or more possible senses or ways
(I found this online....)
A short essay on the golden rule

The golden rule is endorsed by all the great world religions; Jesus, Hillel, and Confucius used it to summarize their ethical teachings. And for many centuries the idea has been influential among people of very diverse cultures. These facts suggest that the golden rule may be an important moral truth.

Let's consider an example of how the rule is used. President Kennedy in 1963 appealed to the golden rule in an anti-segregation speech at the time of the first black enrollment at the University of Alabama. He asked whites to consider what it would be like to be treated as second class citizens because of skin color. Whites were to imagine themselves being black - and being told that they couldn't vote, or go to the best public schools, or eat at most public restaurants, or sit in the front of the bus. Would whites be content to be treated that way? He was sure that they wouldn't - and yet this is how they treated others. He said the "heart of the question is ... whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated."

The golden rule is best interpreted as saying: "Treat others only in ways that you're willing to be treated in the same exact situation." To apply it, you'd imagine yourself in the exact place of the other person on the receiving end of the action. If you act in a given way toward another, and yet are unwilling to be treated that way in the same circumstances, then you violate the rule.

To apply the golden rule adequately, we need knowledge and imagination. We need to know what effect our actions have on the lives of others. And we need to be able to imagine ourselves, vividly and accurately, in the other person's place on the receiving end of the action. With knowledge, imagination, and the golden rule, we can progress far in our moral thinking.

The golden rule is best seen as a consistency principle. It doesn't replace regular moral norms. It isn't an infallible guide on which actions are right or wrong; it doesn't give all the answers. It only prescribes consistency - that we not have our actions (toward another) be out of harmony with our desires (toward a reversed situation action). It tests our moral coherence. If we violate the golden rule, then we're violating the spirit of fairness and concern that lie at the heart of morality.

The golden rule, with roots in a wide range of world cultures, is well suited to be a standard to which different cultures could appeal in resolving conflicts. As the world becomes more and more a single interacting global community, the need for such a common standard is becoming more urgent.

Answer 3

No it is not ambiguous. If you are into masochism then you are defiling the Temple, your body, which was given to you by God. Therefore how you treat yourself is a null factor when trying to find a template for dealing with others. In that case you should follow the example given to you by Christ as to how to treat others. I am certain this is supposed to be a weak attempt at insulting Christianity but there is your christian answer.

Answer 4

No, the golden rule is not ambiguous, only if you choose to twist it. If you are into masochism, what's your point :)

Answer 5

Do you remember when you first were taught to use a ruler to measure length and width down to the smallest of increments and how these measures of the inch to decimals came to be, what then is a golden rule of words already proved themselves worthy to be followed, when i am headed in the direction of land i would not want directions to a mountain or a sea.thus the golden rule.

Answer 6

if you're into masochism you probably won't have that many friends asking you to scratch their back. Seriously, if you're into masochism and trying to live by the golden rule you'd ask your friend to scratch till they draw blood but you wouldn't be able to presume you know how hard to scratch their back.

Answer 7

What masochist wants abuse against their will? Even if you're into that sort of thing, you still want it to be your decision, right? So I don't think it's that ambiguous. It echoes something the Buddha wrote centuries before Christ: Do not do to others that which you find odious when done to you. It's the basis of all ethics, long before any commandments were written. We know what harms and helps us without reading any Bible.

Answer 8

There are two versions of the Golden Rule. Jesus cited one that existed before his preaching, often quoted as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

The more alternatively stated version (that actually permeates more cultures) is "Do NOT do to someone else anything that you would not want done to you in similar circumstances."

In truth, this applies more effectively as an ethical guideline because it prevents harm. Jesus' version is a bit naive, and suggests that your desires are equivalent to others' desires, as you noted in your question.

Answer 9

I think the Golden Rule goes beyond your actions. It goes to the heart of what people need. Think of it as I should show respect, love, kindess & compassion the way I want others to treat me w/these same values as well.

Answer 10

Yes, the golden rule often only works in theory.

Answer 11

Even as a masochist you would not wish someone to inflict pain on you against your will and wishes. Unless one is pathologically masochistic, one still is aware of the time-and-place appropriateness for such things.