Political Theory - Aristotle's Conception of Justice
The philosopher Aristotle believed that justice was unique among virtues, because it had the biggest potential to impact the common good. He discussed justice within two specific categories: broad justice, and a more particular justice.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, developed and maintained by university philosophers across the world, summarizes Aristotle's position succinctly:
"[According to Aristotle...]What is in accordance with the law of a state is thought to be conducive to the common good and/or to that of its rulers. In general, citizens should obey such law in order to be just. The problem is that civil law can itself be unjust in the sense of being unfair to some, so that we need to consider special justice as a function of fairness. He analyzes this into two sorts: distributive justice involves dividing benefits and burdens fairly among members of a community, while corrective justice requires us, in some circumstances, to try to restore a fair balance in interpersonal relations where it has been lost. If a member of a community has been unfairly benefited or burdened with more or less than is deserved in the way of social distributions, then corrective justice can be required, as, for example, by a court of law."
In 1 page (Double space) , explain what you think Aristotle's ideas mean. How might we see these ideas applying to the United States in 2020? What topics? What issues? If we follow Aristotle's conception of justice, what changes might we need to make?
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Political Theory
Aristotle believed that justice was one of the virtues that had huge impacts on the world. According to Bertelli (n.p), Aristotle categorized justice into either distributive or corrective justice. Distributive justice is whereby individuals should conduct themselves in ways that are in line with the law. It is a justice that seeks to ensure that all society members can divide the various benefits and burdens that result from laws and regulations (Bertelli n.p.). On the other hand, corrective justice is an aspect that human beings should make efforts to be just and fair by improving their interpersonal relations. In this sense, concepts such as the court of laws are concepts to achieve corrective justice when one member feels burden by another.
Notably, some modern concepts in the U.S. are an illustration of Aristotle's concept of justice....
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