Absolutist and Golden Rule

Absolutist
The decision not to run a photograph in a newspaper of a mother grieving over a child who has been injured or killed by a drunk driver would be an example of the absolutist ethical principle.


The golden rule
the ethics of reciprocity. Treat others as you would like to be treated (or, as as George Bernard Shaw implied in 1903, the Golden Rule can be oppressive. He said: "Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.") In this model, the photographer treats people as s/he would expect to be treated in return. The Golden Rule has a reference in all the world's religions and can be seen as the root of all core values. In an ideal world, if everyone applied the golden rule to the way they conducted their lives there would be no conflict, war or atrocity to photograph.