The Wikipedia article about the Golden rule gives a fair description of the subject as does this encyclopedia entry. The golden rule seems to be a truly universal principle. Except for what it misses, of course. Consideration for cultural goals and individual intent. The golden rule is so foundational to our culture that we do not question its basic assumptions of benevolence and positive self-gratification. The notion that we all want to feel good and want only good things happen to us. The notion that we know what a good thing is, while the Golden Rule is actually nothing more than an expressed preference for reciprocity. All the rest we read into it is just a bunch of cultural assumptions. Is it difficult to imagine a culture where the foundation of morality is NOT mutual respect, mutual goodwill and cooperation but violent competition and strict structure? Most of the animal kingdom functions on this principle. You have the right to live, the right to eat, the right to mate ONLY as long as you can establish your right to do it through sheer physical violence or the threat of it. Competing animals proving their fitness for any of it is a reciprocal desire. A genetic imperative.