Justice: A Word with Many Meanings
(Basic Points)

This version last modified on January 11, 2002.

I. Highly General Meanings of "Justice"

  • moral correctness in relation to others

  • virtue (goodness of character) as expressed toward others, i.e., a person's disposition to do the morally correct thing in relation to others.

    II. Justice and Practices
    A practice

    a rule-governed activity in which persons agree to participate because they regard it as beneficial to themselves and accept that if they may benefit from it, it may be available to others so they may benefit

    Persons act justly or fairly when they act correctly relative to others by abiding by the rules of a practice. (This assumes that the practice itself is not subject to deep objections, for example, as violating basic rights. Slavery is an example of such a bad practice.)

    Injustice, also known as cheating, occurs when a person pretends to accept the rules of a practice and yet violates them for private gain in a way likely to injure other participants.

    Example: Academic plagiarism is injustice or cheating because it violates the rules of the practice involving submission and evaluation of student work. It is done for private gain in a way likely to injure other participants (cheapen the meaning of a grade, mislead future employers, etc.).

    III. Types

    Main Types of Justice
    distributive justice justice in assigning rewards and burdens as if from a common source
    retributive justice justice concerned with punishment for infraction of a rule (or law)
    compensatory justicejustice concerned with restoring to persons what they lost when harmed by a second party

    Regarding distributive justice, there is one fundamental or general or formal principle, and there are several specific or material principles.

    The fundamental principle of distributive justice:

    In assignment of benefits and burdens, those who are equal in relevant ways should be treated equally, those who are unequal in relevant ways should be treated unequally in proportion to their inequality.

    Specific Principles of Distributive Justice*
    Name of PrincipleFormulation
    Strict EgalitarianEvery person should receive equal benefits and burdens
    Merit--Plato's VersionPeople should be rewarded with positions of responsibility according to their intelligence, capacity for devotion to the public good, and education.
    Merit--SeniorityPersons should be rewarded financially according to the number of years they have held a job.
    Merit--Effort. . . according to their work effort.
    Merit--Output. . . according to the quantity and quality of their work
    "Socialist"People should be assigned burdens according to abilities, benefits according to need.
    Libertarian Burdens should be assigned as they are voluntarily accepted, benefits as others voluntarily give them and as one creates them for oneself through labor on materials of which one is rightful owner

    Note. John Rawls' principles are not included here. Though they can be understood as blending elements of merit, egalitarian, libertarian, and "socialist" principles, they are not an arbitrary synthesis but have their own carefully worked out derivation from a reasonable model of fairness. Moreover, their scope is not limited to material rewards and burdens but is concerned with powers and opportunities as well.