Why There Are Different Conceptions of Justice
There are so many ideas about justice that revolve around fairness and doing what is thought to be right. As long as people interact in daily lives, there must be disagreements at times, and then a person would like to search for the bests way of seeking fairness out of the situation. This can be classified as justice. There are many fronts of justice in our lives. In almost all the activities that humans are involved in, justice is critical for peaceful co-existence. Even in ancient times, people emphasized fairness, and this is an implication that justice was thought to be useful. Whenever fairness exists, there must be punishments for those who do wrong, and these are upholding that are good acts. According to Benjamin (2016), justice helps in ensuring that wrong or unethical actions are eliminated, and the right actions claim a place in society. Without justice, then the entire society may turn into chaos and this impact negatively on humans lives. However, there are different conceptions of justice and this paper seeks to give evidence based explanations for these.
The different conceptions of justice arise from the varied areas it is expected to be applied, and it varies from person to person. However, all the pursuers of justice agree that justice is characterized by doing what is good and the which will lead into positive results out of a case. this makes justice one of the most significant moral and political concepts. The word justice is from a Latin word, jus, meaning right or law. There for, to be just is to do something that is right. According to Aristotle, “justice is made of what is lawful and fair, and the fairness encompasses equitable distribution and corrections of what is inequitable.” In his life Aristotle was much concerned on enlightening people on matters on the society. He was a friend to Alexander Great and after his dearth Aristotle found himself in trouble. Aristotle was judged with fake crimes and he did not meet what he might have called justice. Other philosophers like Socrates and Plato also have their own views on justice. For Plato, justice is “the virtues of establishing rational order with each part performing its role without interfering with effective functioning of the other parts.” Therefore, the oldest conception of justice is as per the arguments of great philosophers of Ancient Greece. Even their predecessor Socrates died in “defense for justice” after false accusations as reported by Plato. [1]
From the perspective of the government, there are several considerations that can be used in determining the meaning of justice. A common argument on the relation between people and government goes that “all men being born under a government, some or other, it is impossible any of them should ever be free, and at liberty to unite together, and begin a new one, or ever able to erect a lawful government.” it is true that we are born under the government and thus we become subject to our governments (Garrett, 2013). This statement can be a limitation to justice in one way and also aims at upholding justice. If the government is to be fair in all its deeds, then there is no doubt that justice will be attained. The limitation to this argument is that so many governments are unjust and democracy has little or no democracy at all. If people fail to subject to this government and start a new government, it would still be termed as unjust but if the new government is to be just and operate with respect to humanity under all the arms of its operations.
In the ancient times, there were a lot of arguments for and against slavery. The biggest dilemma is whether slavery is just or unjust. The Roman culture embraced slavery and this lasted for quite a long time to an extend that it became a norm. The slaves provided labor at all the levels o including in the palace. Some emperor like emperor Tiberius argued that “some men are ready to be slaves” and this has a greater impact in the quest for justice. This statement cab be understood that some men consider being slaves as a good thing and thus just. This view has been analyzed by the great philosopher Socrates in his “story of the cave” that the main cause of slavery is the lack of psychological preparedness to face the reality about life. According to Socrates, the most harmful slavery is of mind and this does not know the existence of justice. If a person is unjust to him or herself, then they consider slavery as just. However, in the real sense slavery is an unjust act for it harm humans (Macpherson, 1980). In the 18th century, slavery was very common in the US. The American Civil war of 1861 to 1865 was caused mainly due to the slave trade. The Southern State of America wanted to continue with slavery for large scale farming while the Northern States led by Abraham Lincoln referred themselves as the abolitionists for fighting against slavery. The war led to death of millions of people including soldier. In my perspective, slavery is unjust and I support the assertion of the abolitionists that “freemen work better that slaves.” (Macpherson, 1980). Despite Roman law protecting the slaves from any form of harm from their masters, the fact remains that slavery was inhuman and unjust. To argue out slavery, “the natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but have the law of nature for his rule.” This statement give conclusion that slavery is a limitation of ones’ freedom and thus unjust. Therefore, the different understanding of people toward freedom make justice to have different conceptions.
The other conception of justice is from the story of by stating that “he who holds the highest good to have no connection with to virtue, and measures is by his own advantage, nor by honorableness, this person, if he is to remain consisted and not now then succumb to the goodness of his nature, cannot cultivate friendship, justice, or liberty.” (Hunt, 2017). This statement implies that justice is worth fighting for and it is the greatest joy people seek in the world full of injustices. Therefore, justice is treating other people better and fighting for personal rights without the aim of taking advantage over anybody. Surprisingly, justice is thought to be subject to time and the conditions he is in. This was according to Julius Caesar, what is just today may not be just tomorrow (Hunt, 2017). My understanding to this can be explained by the example that one day a man was a gangster and caught for committing crimes. When he appears into the court he will be defending himself and this is seeking justice over the crime allegations. With time, if the person changes and then he is stolen from, he will appear in judicial set up seeking for justice. This give the implication justice has different sides and this is the reality.[2]
Form a Biblical point of view, man was given power by God to work and enjoy the fruits of his labor, his sweat. The implication of this is that justice is when a person consumes what he or she has worked for. In the current era, there is a lot of looting of both personal and public property in this is a conception of injustice. On the matter of equality, “all men are by nature are equal.” (Garrett 2013). The truth behind this statement there is no equality on Earth and for this reason issues like racism and the fight over religious dominance face us day in day out.
In summation, justice has several conceptions and this shows human understand justice differently. The philosophers of the Ancient Greece the likes of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Al of them have given their ideas on the meaning of justice and it can be concluded that justice is associated with positive results and doing good. Considering the slavery, it shows that there is lack of justice since all the humans need to be treated with equality. Another conception of justice is on how people should be answerable to the laws of the land. However, justice varies from person to person and from situation to situation and thus what is just today may not be just tomorrow.
[1] Benjamin Patrick. N. Marcus Tullius Cicero; On duties. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/3(1)%20(1).pdf. 2016)
[2] Hunt, P. Ancient Greek and roman slavery. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from cu Denver on 2019-09-17 10:43:48. (2017).