After imagining what it would be like to be treated in a given way in the reversed situation, it's always clear how I ought to treat the other person.
After imagining what it would be like to be treated in a given way in the reversed situation, it's always clear how I ought to treat the other person.
Would that life were that easy!
After imagining what it would be like to be treated in a given way in the reversed situation, it's always clear how I ought to treat the other person.
Sometimes it's clear. In the good Samaritan case, it may be clear to you that you ought to be helped if you were in X's situation. Then you'll have a hard time being consistent if you don't believe that you ought to help X.
Sometimes it isn't so clear. Should I pick up hitchhiker X? Here I have to consider both the benefit to X and the possible risk to myself. Impartiality says that I must make the same evaluation regardless of whether I imagine X or myself as the hitchhiker. Instead of pushing me toward an obvious answer, this just encourages me to reflect on the act from both perspectives.