Whose Justice Do You Prefer?
Jun 30th, 2008 by Micah Tillman | 5 Comments |
I started teaching a summer version of one of the two classes I teach here at CUA today. We begin with Plato’s Republic.
The goal which Socrates sets for himself (and his interlocutors) in the book is to discover what justice is, and whether it is more worthwhile to be just or unjust.
So here’s a question for you:
What would various famous people define as justice?
E.g., take George Bush, Martin Luther King, Jr., Al Gore, Superman, and Bono.
And with whose understanding of justice are you most comfortable?
Justice a la word association:
George W. Bush ~> His gut feeling
MLK, Jr. ~> Equality
Al Gore ~> A zero-sum lifestyle
Superman ~> Whatever the courts will permit within benevolent vigilantism
Bono ~> Still hasn’t found where the streets have no name (of love)
…none of which I’m personally comfortable with. My idea of justice lies somewhere a bit closer to, say, this.
Great question…. I have no idea!! :)
I’ve been thinking lately about social justice and criminal justice. On some level, these two justices are different. Social justice is about equality regardless of whether it is deserved while criminal justice is about what is deserved (punishment) in a particular situation….
Ok, I need to go rest my brain. That’s enough thinking for such a gorgeous day as this! (Well just kidding…. I’m actually working on a post in which I will try to graciously eviscerate a book I just read. lol)
Superman–all the bad guys locked up
George W. Bush–a world free of terrorism
Martin Luther King–a black kid and a white kid playing together happily
Al Gore–everyone else living green while he sits in his hot tub in his mansion
Bono–Ireland giving aid to Africa with other people’s tax money while he invests his tax-free in another country
Seb–
*laugh*
Amanda–
Those do seem to be the two primary forms of justice we think about, don’t they? And you’re right that we think about “people getting what they deserve” as being on the criminal justice side of things.
But maybe the social justice side only looks like it has nothing to do with people getting what they deserve because the assumption is that everyone deserves the same things equally. Like, maybe if you’re a war criminal, you fall off the social justice map by suddenly deserving nothing good. Maybe?
RG–
I think you’re right about Superman. For W, however, I think you might could just say “a world free,” and just stop there. Your version of MLK’s justice sounds right (as the end goal at least).
On Al Gore, I think you and Seb are both right. And on Bono . . . . I always think about Africa Debt Relief when his name comes up, and I don’ t know the economics of the situation well enough to know whether what he wants on that front is actually good. But it sounds nice.
And I think he does other things too, maybe?
Oh, and I think of different sunglasses when I think of Bono, too.
Ah, good point!