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Single Idea 5242

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / c. Justice ]

Full Idea

We call 'just' anything that tends to produce or conserve the happiness of a political association.

Gist of Idea

Justice is whatever creates or preserves social happiness

Source

Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1129b18)

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.173

A Reaction

This is closer to a modern view, though we probably think that some societies might flourish while being unjust, while others might be very just but disintegrate. We are more cynical than Aristotle.

The 30 ideas with the same theme [correct behaviour towards other people]:

5244 For Pythagoreans, justice is simply treating all people the same [Pythagoras, by Aristotle]
441 Against a villain, villainy is not a useless weapon [Epicharmus]
346 One ought not to return a wrong or injury to any person, whatever the provocation [Socrates]
119 A criminal is worse off if he avoids punishment [Plato]
129 Do most people praise self-discipline and justice because they are too timid to gain their own pleasure? [Plato]
266 Injustice is the mastery of the soul by bad feelings, even if they do not lead to harm [Plato]
2092 Simonides said morality is helping one's friends and harming one's enemies [Plato]
23562 If the parts of our soul do their correct work, we will be just people, and will act justly [Plato]
5151 Justice concerns our behaviour in dealing with other people [Aristotle]
4389 What emotion is displayed in justice, and what are its deficiency and excess? [Urmson on Aristotle]
5240 The word 'unjust' describes law-breaking and exploitation [Aristotle]
5242 Justice is whatever creates or preserves social happiness [Aristotle]
23556 Particular justice concerns specific temptations, but universal justice concerns the whole character [Aristotle]
5261 Between friends there is no need for justice [Aristotle]
22553 Justice is a virtue of communities [Aristotle]
14513 Justice is a pledge of mutual protection [Epicurus]
500 The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the person wronged [Democritus (attr)]
6001 Justice is a disposition to distribute according to desert [Diogenes of Babylon, by Blank]
6288 Don't resist evil, but turn the other cheek [Jesus]
6822 Those who avenge themselves when wronged incur no guilt [Mohammed]
23177 Justice directs our relations with others, because it denotes a kind of equality [Aquinas]
2376 Injustice is the failure to keep a contract, and justice is the constant will to give what is owed [Hobbes]
23560 If we all naturally had everything we could ever desire, the virtue of justice would be irrelevant [Hume]
3922 Justice only exists to support society [Hume]
14816 Justice (fairness) originates among roughly equal powers (as the Melian dialogues show) [Nietzsche]
4559 When powerless one desires freedom; if power is too weak, one desires equal power ('justice') [Nietzsche]
22472 The practice of justice may well need a recognition of human equality [Foot]
22479 Observing justice is necessary to humans, like hunting to wolves or dancing to bees [Foot]
8001 'Dikaiosune' is justice, but also fairness and personal integrity [MacIntyre]
4286 Only just people will drop their own self-interests when faced with an impartial verdict [Scruton]