This rule is however also broken. For example,
if I come to you to ask for help, but you unkindly decline (cause unbeknown to me, you are really having a bad day), you will never receive any help from others, because you treated my like this. And as I will then reject your request for help, I will then be also excluded in the future from help from others.
I.e. this rule will spiral into a bad state, because there is no forgiveness.
To solve this, we would need to make a new addition.
And then we will be able fo identify another edge case, requiring another edge case. And this continues on and on.
The intention of these simple ethical/moral/social rules is to be as simple as possible, while still being a good approach.
The are not intended to be absolutely followed, but to be a rule of thumb, until more information is available, to adapt properly to the situation.
And what if I don’t know (yet) how they treat others?
Well it was a shower thought not a philosophy one.
But with more thought on it, I’d still say the default rule by itself is broken, so perhaps it should be:
Treat others the way you want to be treated, unless you know how they treat others - then treat them as they do unto others.
This rule is however also broken. For example, if I come to you to ask for help, but you unkindly decline (cause unbeknown to me, you are really having a bad day), you will never receive any help from others, because you treated my like this. And as I will then reject your request for help, I will then be also excluded in the future from help from others. I.e. this rule will spiral into a bad state, because there is no forgiveness.
To solve this, we would need to make a new addition. And then we will be able fo identify another edge case, requiring another edge case. And this continues on and on.
The intention of these simple ethical/moral/social rules is to be as simple as possible, while still being a good approach. The are not intended to be absolutely followed, but to be a rule of thumb, until more information is available, to adapt properly to the situation.