Open question: What do you think a normal person’s moral responsibilities are and why?

Some angles you can (but don’t have to) consider:

To themselves, family, friends and strangers?

Do you have thoughts about what it takes to make a good person or at what point someone is a bad person? (Is there a category of people who are neither?)

What do you think the default state of people is? (Generally good, evil or neutral by nature?)

Conversely do you believe morality is a construction and reject it entirely? (Even practically speaking when something bad happens to you?)

  • 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇨🇳张殿李🇨🇳🇩🇪🇨🇦@ttrpg.networkMEnglish
    1·
    5 months ago

    The history of the Golden Rule long predates Christianity (and, indeed, likely even Judaism), so its original context has nothing to do with Pharisees. It is arguably the oldest moral injunction in written history.

    • The positive formulation was used in Middle Kingdom Egypt (~2000BCE) while the negative was used in Late Period Egypt (~500BCE).
    • The Chinese, via Confucius’ Analects (~500BCE), had it in the negative form.
    • The negative form was used in ancient India (~400BCE) and by ancient Tamils (~100BCE). (There are persistent claims that you can find the Golden Rule in Vedic texts which would place India as the originator at ~3000BCE if substantiated; I have not as yet found it, but neither have I looked very hard. It’s a hard slog to read that.)
    • The Greeks used almost exclusively the negative (~600-300BCE) in their philosophical writings as did the ancient Persians via Zoroaster (~300BCE).
    • Interestingly the Romans had the positive formulation in an interesting hierarchical twist: treat your slaves as you would wish your master to treat you (~5BCE).

    Note that all of those are dated “BCE” and are thus by definition precursors to Christianity. 😉