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For me what living ethically is about, is about not just thinking about yourself, but
putting yourself in the position of other beings who are affected your actions. So this
is the kind of, sort of "golden rule" is what it is sometimes called, putting yourself in
the position of others and what it would be like. And of course Christians would say that
comes from Jesus and Jews will say it also comes from the bible, but in fact it's something
that you find in any ethic. You find it in Confucius, you find it in early Hindu writings.
So, I think it's something that any tradition of ethical thinking that gets developed to
a certain point starts to take, if you like, a broader perspective. Sometimes you could
call it, you know, a p point of view of the universe. We'll start to realize that, well,
I'm just one being here among a lot of others. And there is nothing so special about me that
somehow my sufferings are more important than your sufferings, or anyone else's suffering
of the people out there, or for that matter, of the animals. So, we get to the point where
we say really to live ethically you have to try and think what it's like for those others
that are affected by your actions. And, you know, if you say "Why care?" of course it's
possible not to care, but then you're just cutting yourself off from a part of reality
which is there. You're sort of denying that it matters when, you know, when you look at
it as objectively as you can it's obvious that it matters to them as it matters to you.