Religion, philosophy: the Silver and Golden rules
Self-tutoring about religion and philosophy: the tutor mentions some points of view about conduct.
The following is by my understanding.
There is a predecessor to the Silver and Golden rules: the Iron Rule, which is that “Might makes right.” This doesn’t, from my point of view mean “right” as in “correct”, but rather “right” as in “allowance.” Lots of people do things and receive things just because they can, even though really they shouldn’t.
The Silver Rule says “don’t do anything to someone else that you don’t want them doing to you.” One can sense the empathy present in this rule that was absent in the Iron Rule: one is meant to imagine others’ situations: “Would I want this done to me, if I were in that situation?”
The Golden Rule, of course, is “Do unto others what you would want done unto you.” Somewhat surprisingly, it might demand less empathy than the Silver Rule. That’s because there are a lot more things you wouldn’t want someone to do to you, than you would want.
In our society today, a lot of people yet seem to operate by the Iron Rule when they feel free to. However, when people don’t feel confident about their situation, the Silver Rule seems to take precedence. Perhaps that’s because this society seems to prefer passivity to activity.
Source:
Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.