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1. Chapter 8: Justice
The Problem of Justice
Introducing Philosophy, 9th edition
Robert C. Solomon

2. Introducing Justice
i. Retributive justice: “getting even.”
Retribution for a crime is making the
criminal suffer or pay an amount
appropriate to the severity of the crime.
ii. But justice concerns the running of a society
as a whole in day-to-day civil matters as
well: it includes things like the distribution
of wealth in our society, the distribution of
privileges and power, enjoyment of society’s
cultural gifts, and questions of status.

3. Two Ancient Theories of Justice
• Plato: Everyone has his or her “place”
• Aristotle: Individuals are due certain
rewards for their labor

4. Plato (427-347 B.C.E.)
• Born into a family of wealth and political power
• In Athens, fell under the influence of Socrates and
turned his talents to philosophy
• Conceived of a “philosopher-king,” the ideal wise
ruler, who certainly did not exist in Athens
• Disillusioned by Socrates’ execution and devoted
his life to continuing his work
• Set up the Academy for this purpose and spent the
rest of his life teaching there

5. • First set down his reminiscences of Socrates’
life and death: Using the dialogue form, with
Socrates as his mouthpiece, he extended
Socrates’ thought into entirely new areas,
notably metaphysics and the theory of
knowledge
• Plato incorporated a theory of morality into
his metaphysics and politics, particularly in
The Republic
• Saw ethics as part of politics and the good
life for the individual in terms of the strength
and harmony of the society

6. • In The Republic, Plato argues against the various
views of selfishness and hedonism that would
interfere
• Virtue, he argues, is the harmony of the individual
soul as well as the harmony of the individual
within the society
• Since we have nothing from Socrates himself, it is
difficult to know how much is original Plato and
how much is transcribed Socrates
• Predicate: That which is asserted or denied of a
thing, which refers to a property of things; familiar
predicates would be “is red,” “is an animal”

7. Plato on Justice
• Justice in the state is precisely the same as
justice in the individual, that is, a harmony
between the various parts for the good of the
whole
• But this means that the concerns of the
individual may take a clearly secondary role
to the interests of society

8. • In Plato’s universe, everyone has his or her
“place,” and justice means that they act and
are treated accordingly
• Plato’s rigid hierarchy of social classes and
insistence on the inequality of people might
offend us
• It is important to note that equality is a view
that must be argued for

9. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
• One of the greatest Western philosophers, born in
northern Greece (Stagira); father was the physician
to Philip, king of Macedonia
• Aristotle was to tutor Philip’s son, Alexander the
Great
• For 18 years, was a student in Plato’s academy,
where he learned and then parted from Plato’s views
• Turned to the study of biology, and many of his
theories ruled Western science until the Renaissance
• With Alexander until 335 B.C.E. when he returned
to Athens to set up his own school, the Lyceum

10. • After Alexander’s death, the anti-Macedonian
sentiment in Athens forced Aristotle to flee
• Virtually created the sciences of logic and
linguistics, developed extravagant theories in
physics and astronomy, and made significant
contributions to metaphysics, ethics, politics,
and aesthetics
• Metaphysics is still a basic text on the subject
• Nicomachean Ethics codified ancient Greek
morality; stresses individual virtue and
excellence

11. • The best life of all is the life of contemplation,
the life of a philosopher, for it is the most self-
contained and the “closest to the gods”
• Such contemplation must be together with the
pleasures of life, honor, wealth, and virtuous
action

12. Aristotle on Justice
• Aristotle gives an unabashed defense of slavery,
not only on the grounds that slaves are efficient
and good for society as a whole, but because
those who are slaves are “naturally” meant to be
slaves and would be unhappy and unable to cope
if they were granted freedom and made citizens.
• For Aristotle as for Plato, different people have
different roles, and to treat unequals equally is as
unjust as it is to treat equals unequally.
• We are taught to believe that everybody is an
equal.

13. • Distributive justice—the fair distribution of
wealth and goods among the members of a
society—comes from Aristotle: individuals
are due certain rewards for their labor.
• Despite his elitism, Aristotle saw quite clearly
that the poorer and less powerful members of
a society were those most in need of the
protection that a just society provides.
• Aristotle made the distinction between justice
that rights certain wrongs (in crimes and bad
business deals) and the general concern of
justice for a well-balanced society.