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Definition:
The question of justice is central to most discussions in ethical and political
philosophy. As a general concept, it refers to an equitable distribution of both goods
and evils. Thus, when any one person or group experiences more good or more evil in a
system than they deserve, then it is said that that system is unjust. However, that
leaves open the questions as to how we determine just how much good or evil someone
deserves, and even how we determine exactly how much good or evil someone has even
received.
One important theme in social theory is the degree to which a society is responsible for creating justice. Are social organizations only responsible for retributive justice? If so, that means that society should only ensure that those who do wrong are punished, but has no responsibility with regards to inequities which are not caused by any clear agent. The alternative view is that a society is also responsible for distributive justice, which means that there is a responsibility for the distribution of both goods and evils.
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Related Resources:
What are Political and Legal Philosophy
The Philosophy of Politics and the Philosophy of Law are often studied separately, but they are presented here jointly because they both come back to the same thing: the study of force. Politics is the study of political force in the general community, while jurisprudence is the study of how laws can and should be used to achieve political and social goals.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
