Should Justice be the Supreme Virtue of Societies?
Social justice is distributive. It operates under the principle that
each person must get his or her due. However, it is quite contentious
as to precisely what each person's due is and thus opens the debate as
to what justice is. Moreover, once a definition of justice is agreed
upon (in a particular state), the question may be raised of how
important it is. Is justice salient, or is there another concept that
transcends its authority? Some argue that an aggregative concept would
best suit a first principle (if indeed there were one). I would argue
that justice is indeed salient, that without it there would be no such
thing as civil society and therefore that it is the supreme virtue of
society.
Justice has long been heralded as key to the creation and maintenance
of a society, yet why this is has been harder to pinpoint. Pascal
argued in Pensees that "force without justice is tyranny." Underlying
this contention is the idea that equality amongst all people is
inherently good and should be sought after. This is because he assumes
that tyranny is a bad thing and that in order for force to be used to
good ends it needs to be justified. How can any force be justified? If
an individual or a group has entered in to some sort of a contract and
subsequently broken it, then it seems just that they are punished
through force. Therefore, in order for force to be used justly, there
must be a point of equality (a contact) amongst all members of the
state - all members of the state are equal citizens in that they are
afforded equal rights in the eyes of the law (state). From this it
would be...
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...ntirely bizarre yet when coupled with the idea of individual
self interest, does not seem that far fetched in that the ten whose
lives were saved will be ultimately more happy than they would have
been otherwise. On the other hand, it does seem as if Utilitarianism
would require a society of saints in order to be successful. This is
the fundamental problem with Utilitarianism. It removes the idea of
individual rights and replaces them with an appeal to the aggregate
appeal to the good of society.
Therefore, in concluding, it seems to me that justice is indeed the
'supreme virtue' of a society. Rawls' account of justice seems to
portray the most accurate and plausible (in a world without nation
states) description of a just society and it incorporates the idea of
justice being the first principle of that society.
Philosophers from the ancient times to philosophers of today and the modern society all have voiced their opinions on how a government should be set up and ruled in order to have a just society. Some philosophers say that the government is corrupt and unjust while others argue that the government controls fairly and appropriately. The two main positions that philosophers believe are resources in society should be distributed to obtain common good and live life as long as you do not infringe on others. The laws and rules the United States government currently has in place today often originate from these philosophers ideas and work to maintain a just society. The definition of a just society can be described as a society with equality and solidarity where everyone is treated the way they deserve to be treated. The government today has control over the people to avoid chaos but tries their best to best serve its people. People in society deserve to be treated fairly based off their natural rights of being human. The Declaration of Independence states that the consent of the govern is applied to serve its citizens with the best laws and regulations to keep the people in a state of contempt and delectation. Governments are supposed to protect and give the people of a nation the rights and justice they deserve with the consent of the governed. If humans are treated fairly and justly then the people will respect the government and not cause chaos. Just societies start from a stable form of government and work their down to the people of society through the laws and regulations set in place by government trying to treat them as fairly and justly as possible.
Plato's Republic, being written in 380 B.C. The main questions which Socrates prepositions are What is justice? And why we should be just? What does it mean to be just in as a soul? What does is mean to be a just city?
I think Socrates does not truly understand what justice is. The justice he explains is only his own justice but not everybody’s justice. His justice does not allow a city and individuals, especially the ruled class in the city to develop further.
In conclusion, the Constitution, may protect us from tyranny in this way.
How do we define justice? The dictionary defines it with words like righteousness and fairness. Often times when we hear the word justice, or hear about an unjust situation, we have an instinctual reaction. We all know what justice is, even without a dictionary definition. Justice is a virtue, justice is doing the right thing. But how can we define justice if it is doing what we individually think is the right thing to do?
Justice is controlled differently all throughout the world. Similarly, justice means a different thing to different people. Though not always enforced, my definition of what is just most likely differs from the person next to me. However, there are some actions that are generally accepted as being unjust. To give one example from the reading it is controversial whether “laws” are capable of determining what is just & what is unjust. It can be agreed by most that there are some laws are unjust but it is controversial among people whether these unjust laws can justly be disobeyed. Is disobeying a law always unjust regardless of the absurdity of the particular law?
America has committed a terrible sin. It has once decided to own people as property and deprive them of their liberties and enslaved them based on the color of their skin. The United States must repair the wounds that have resulted from the social injustice committed against the African American community. Many have argued that this must be done through reparations. However, African Americans have faced a plethora of legal complexities in attempts to obtain legal reparations for past injustices committed against their ancestors. The problem that African’s face in their attempt to obtain legal reparations stems from their historical devaluation in the American legal system. Since the days of colonial America, it was not only law that African Americans were inferior to their Anglophone whites, but also custom (Westley, 82). The prejudice of early America, which has stretched to recent days, has handicapped African American’s ability to exercise their legal rights that navigation of the legal and public complex procedures has made it impossible for them to correct social injustice and obtain reparation
The Republic by Plato examines many aspects of the human condition. In this piece of writing Plato reveals the sentiments of Socrates as they define how humans function and interact with one another. He even more closely Socrates looks at morality and the values individuals hold most important. One value looked at by Socrates and his colleagues is the principle of justice. Multiple definitions of justice are given and Socrates analyzes the merit of each. As the group defines justice they show how self-interest shapes the progression of their arguments and contributes to the definition of justice.
Morality ivolves distinguishing which human behaviors are right or wrong and good or bad. Morality covers topics such as harm, rights and justice, and therefore it is mainly concerned with protecting every idividual. There has been a culture of war between liberals and conservatives all based upon human morality aspects (Haidt & Graham, 2007, p. 1). Cultural war can be termed as the division in personal opinions and thoughts between open-minded people or liberals and the conventional or traditionalists, also known as conservatives.
The ideal society we would all be considered equal, but reality often defies this idealism. When we think of police officers, we think of people working hard to keep us all safe, but this may not always be the case in today 's society. This is demonstrated in an opinion piece published in the Miami Herald, entitled “Need a ‘big, bad dude’? White criminals need not apply” by Leonard Pitts Jr. The article opens by discussing the shooting of African-American man Terence Crutcher, where the police officer who shot him stated it was due to him not obeying her orders and reaching inside his SUV for a weapon. However, the video of the shooting shows that this did not happen. The article also goes on to discuss other African-Americans shot in recent
Justice is generally regarded as an important virtue. It is seen as the hallmark of a truly free and fair society, as well as one with a good sense of morality. The average person might see justice as a state where crime is not prevalent, and where individuals are fair and understanding towards one another. However, in order to reach a working definition for justice, one must consider its value and understand the components that make up a greater virtue. Throughout The Apology and Republic, Plato uses Socrates as a mouthpiece, attempting to explore find the true meaning of justice. Throughout The Apology, Socrates dispels commonly held views on the nature of justice and discusses how individuals
"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." Martin Luther King's words, which just correspond with the above assertion, perfectly tell us what to do in face of laws, either just or unjust.
Essentially, “justice is the quality of being impartial, fair, and just” (Pollsky, 2012, p.53). Furthermore, the act of being just is derived from the latin word “jus” which translates to matters involving laws or rules (Pollsky, 2012, p.53). There are three types of justice and they each differ in matters of circumstance: firstly, distributive justice attempts to provide equality for each individual; corrective justice attempts to reverse an unfair advantage, provide a remedy to the problem, and show equality within the population; lastly, reciprocal justice provides the notion of equality amongst freely exchanged goods amongst individuals.
Throughout Platos Republic, the subject of platonic justice and its goodness to its self arise and are discussed amongst Plato and his peers. At the beginning of The Republic, Plato asks the fundamental question of what is justice? Looking to define the ideal state of justice, Plato reasons that he must first define justice in theory before he can use justice practically. Platonic Justice is defined as being a harmony between the tripartite soul in which reasons guide the spirit and appetite. Justice is said to be good in itself and good in its practical ends. It is educating desires, implementing the human faculty of reason. Justice is not the interest of the stronger, but more the interest of the weaker. An unjust life, which is dominated by the spirit, leads one to an addiction for material goods or possessions. A platonically just life leads to harmony, balance, and virtue. A just life in this case allows attainment of satisfaction where as an unjust life does not. The truly unjust ultimately destroy themselves, whereas the truly just preserve themselves. Wether or not Platonic Justice is good for its own sake is to be determined.
Do we have any reason to believe that some sort of Justice must balance out Injustice in the world? This question would seem to imply that perhaps through Justice there are some sort of Injustice in the world today. Therefore, some sort of judiciary system should be set in place to control the level of unjustness. In order for any individual to even approach the above question, the given terms Justice and Injustice must first be understood, as well as their relationship to society.