The Golden Rule — Treating Others as Oneself
The Golden Rule — 'treat others as you wish to be treated' — is the most universally distributed ethical principle in human history, present in virtually every known wisdom tradition in remarkably similar formulations.
The Golden Rule appears, in positive and negative formulations, across virtually every known moral tradition: Christianity ('Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'), Judaism ('What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow'), Islam ('None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself'), Buddhism ('Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful'), Confucianism ('Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself'), Hinduism ('This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you'), Zoroastrianism ('Do not do unto others whatever is injurious to yourself'), Sikhism ('I am a stranger to no one; and no one is a stranger to me'). The universality of this principle across independent traditions that had no contact with each other is evidence that it reflects a deep moral truth rooted in the common structure of human experience: we all feel pain and pleasure, we all need dignity and care, and this shared vulnerability is the rational basis of all ethics.
Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.
Philosopher Marcus Singer's The Golden Rule demonstrates through careful comparative analysis that the Golden Rule appears in 14 distinct religious and philosophical traditions with no known contact between them — making it the single most universally distributed moral principle in human history and the strongest candidate for a universal moral law.
Confucius Analects