Charles R. Lightner

Human beings, all of us, act in ways that are irrational and contrary to our own interests. And we do so much more often than we’d expect. Yet many of the most influential philosophers, both moral and economic, base intricately constructed ethical and behavioral theories on the assumption of rational behavior. It is partially because we cannot trust others or ourselves to act ratio...

The Greek philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras (ca. 570 – ca. 490 BCE), prescribed a highly structured way of life. His ethical system is captured in essence in seventy-one aphorisms known as The Golden Verses. While the verses are ascribed to Pythagoras, himself, they might actually have been collected in their present form over time by his students and later adherents to his te...

The Greek philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras (ca. 570 – ca. 490 BCE), prescribed a highly structured way of life. His ethical system is captured in essence in seventy-one aphorisms known as The Golden Verses. While the verses are ascribed to Pythagoras, himself, they might actually have been collected in their present form over time by his students and later adherents to his te...

The Golden Rule scholars and commentators have, for the most part, attempted to cure the problems of defining and practicing the Rule by changing its wording. Some acknowledge that changes are required because the Rule, by itself, lacks some critical elements required of an actual practice. Some acknowledge that the Rule, by itself, or taken alone, creates some logical and philosophic...

I’ve suggested for many reasons that we stop using such language as “the negative version of the Golden Rule” or even “the Silver Rule” for the admonition to avoid doing to others "what we would find hateful”. I’ve argued that, contrary to Gensler’s view, the “do not do” injunction is not the inverse of the “do unto others” statement. That using the label “Silver” immediately and with...

Yesterday’s post brought up some implications of impartiality in the utilitarian sense of the term. A theme that runs through the posts on this site but not yet stated in these terms, is that nearness counts, relationship counts. We’ve seen it in the discussion of the stranger in the Hebrew bible. We’ve seen it in the analysis of the grammar of the “love your neighbor” verses. I’ve ar...

The so-called Platinum Rule was derived from a comment made by the philosopher Karl Popper in a footnote appearing in his book “The Open Society and Its Enemies” (1945, Routledge). In that note he comments that the Golden Rule might be improved upon by stating that we should “do unto others, wherever possible, as they would be done by..." Labeling that idea as platinum implies t...

Afterlife beliefs can powerfully influence human behavior. Actions that might seem inexplicable without knowledge of such beliefs can sometimes be easily understood, and even seem quite logical, when viewed in the appropriate context. The major golden rule scholars essentially ignore this issue. I suspect that is because they share the principal elements of a Christian afterlife belie...

I’ve been working for some time on the question of the influence of afterlife beliefs because I have been struck by the lack of comment on that subject by Golden Rule scholars. Strongly held beliefs about the fate of person after death can have major influence on their actions, desires and motivations. If you have strong beliefs and I don’t know about them I might badly misunderstand ...