The Golden Rule and the Principle of Justice in Henry Sidgwick’s Ethics

Abstract

The article analyzes the peculiarities of conceptualization of the Golden Rule in Sidgwick’s ethics. The significance of his approach to the study of the Golden Rule is determined, in par­ticular, by the fact that he introduced the Golden Rule into the context of moral theory and, fo­cusing on the analysis of the Golden Rule as a statement, started the tradition of thinking about the rule in analytical ethics. In his consideration of the Golden Rule, Sidgwick assumed that it represents a fundamental moral intuition recognized by all humans. However, the evangelical formulation of the rule, in his view, is vague, open to ambiguous and false interpretations and, because of the significance of the rule, needs to be clarified and reformulated. In an effort to rationalize and clarify the normative content of the Golden Rule, Sidgwick links it to the principle of justice, in which he emphasizes the idea of universalizability. Universalizability according to the model of the Golden Rule is realized through the correlation of one's own judgments and actions with other people’s judgments and actions. The idea of universalizabil­ity in his interpretation sets the criterion for right action in general and right action in rela­tion to others, in particular. Sidgwick's association of the Golden Rule with the principle of justice was essential because justice was most often correlated with the Talion. The correla­tion of justice with the Golden Rule provides a different image of justice: it manifests itself in the reciprocal willingness of persons to act proactively, to balance their interests with the in­terests of others and to allow no exceptions for themselves. This creates a space of humanity, providing conditions for positive interactions between people.