WHAT IS JUSTICE? CA ATTORNEY VINCENT W DAVIS

 WHAT IS JUSTICE?

One of the most important moral and political principles is justice. The word is derived from the Latin jus, which means right or statute. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the "just" person as one who generally "does what is morally right" and is willing to "give everyone his or her due," offering as a synonym the word "just." But philosophers want to go beyond the meanings of etymology and dictionaries and understand, for example, the essence of justice as both a moral virtue of character and beneficial quality of civil society, as well as how ethical and social decision-making relates.

The emphasis of this paper will be on Western philosophical concepts of justice. There are the greatest theories of ancient Greece (those of Plato and Aristotle) and medieval Christianity (Augustine and Aquinas), two early modern theories (Hobbes and Hume), two later modern theories (Kant and Mill), and several modern theories (Rawls and other successors). The article generally discusses not only their justice theories, but also how philosophers apply their own theories to contentious social problems, such as civil disobedience, imprisonment, women's equal opportunity, slavery, war, property rights, and international relations.

For Plato, justice is a virtue that maintains fair order, with each part playing its proper role and not interfering with other parts' proper functioning. Aristotle maintains that justice consists of what is legal and equal, with equity requiring fair distribution and the correction of what is inequitable. For Augustine, we must strive to give all people there due to the cardinal virtue of fairness; for Aquinas, justice is the rational mean between opposite kinds of inequality, like proportional distributions and reciprocal transactions.

Hobbes claimed that justice is an artificial virtue, indispensable for civil society, a result of voluntary social contract agreements; for Hume, by preserving property (broadly understood), justice basically serves public utility. For Kant, it is a virtue by which we value the liberty, autonomy, and dignity of others by not interfering with their voluntary acts as long as they do not abuse the rights of others; Mill said that justice is a collective term for the most essential social services that encourage and preserve human liberty. Rawls analyzed justice for all members of society in terms of maximal equal freedom for basic rights and responsibilities, with socio-economic inequality requiring moral justification in terms of equal opportunity and positive outcomes for all; and alternative concepts were established by various post-Rawlsian philosophers.

In general, Western philosophers consider justice to be the most basic of all virtues for ordering interpersonal relationships and creating and sustaining a stable democratic society. What can be advocated by documenting the historical interplay of these ideas is a growing conception of justice in terms of respecting individuals as autonomous, reasonable agents. On the existence, basis, and legitimate application of justice, one may disagree, but this is its heart.

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