Golden Rule: the Ethics of Reciprocity in World Religions with an analytical introduction

The ethical golden rule, “treat others as you want to be treated”, is one of the common teachings of the founders of all religions that has been formulated in various forms, positively or negatively, in different cultures and religions. Some have found this rule so valuable that they regard it as the summary of morality or religion. On the other hand, due to the ambiguities in the rule, some have raised objections to it from different points of view and concluded that this rule has no practical value or effectiveness. In the last few decades, more attention has been paid to the golden rule in the academic circles of ethical studies, and many books and articles have been written on the subject. The present thesis is a translation of nine chapters of one of these books, entitled The Golden Rule: The Ethics of Reciprocity in World Religions (2008), with an analytical introduction consists of six parts in which some features of this rule have been analyzed. The six sections focus on some general points about the golden rule, a review of the important English and Persian works in this area, the position of the golden rule in the geography of ethical studies, the analysis of the positive and negative forms of the rule and their logical relationship, the objections raised to the rule and answers given to them, and finally the position of the golden rule in various religious traditions.