Friday, March 18, 2022

Jordan Peterson And The Golden Rule


 On Pages 59 and 60 of his book, 12 RULES FOR LIFE AN ANTIDOTE TO CHAOS, Jordan Peterson insists that the Golden Rule is less about altruistic treatment of others, sacrificing your interests in favor of their, despite your innate selfish plan, than it is about egoist good care of the self as the best way to take care of others and to aid them in taking care of you.

Here is Jordan: "I learned two very important lessons from Carl Jung, the famous Swiss depth psychologist, about 'doing unto others as you would have them to do unto you' or 'loving your neighbor as yourself.' The first lesson was that neither of these statements has anything to do with being nice. The second was that both are equations, rather than injunctions. If I am someone's friend, family member, or lover, then I am morally obligated to bargain hard on my behalf as they are on theirs. If I fail to do so, I will end up a slave, and the other person a tyrant. What good is that? It is much better for any relationship when both partners are strong. Furthermore, there is little difference between standing up and speaking for yourself, when you are being bullied and otherwise tormented and enslaved, and standing up and speaking for someone else. As Jung points out, this means embracing and loving the sinner who is yourself, as much as forgiving and aiding someone else who is stumbling and imperfect.."

Jung's interpretation of the Golden Rule sounds a lot like mutual equality and assertiveness training.

No comments:

Post a Comment