Rawlsian concept of Justice vs Greek perspective of Justice - Comparative assessment

Greek perspective of Justice emphasizes on the role of virtue, hierarchy and harmony within a structured social order. It emphasized on the individual’s role to establish a just society. In Greek perspective, we will study Plato's and Aristotle's concepts of justice. 

Justice evolved as a 'progressive idea'. The modern views of justice seeks to transform society itself for the realization of certain human values. Rawlsian justice system prioritizes fairness and equality (distributive justice) and emphasizes on the state role to establish just and fair conditions for individual to mitigate arbitrary inequalities.

A comparative assessment of Greek perspective of Justice to Rawlsian concept of Justice -

Concept of Justice - 

Richard Lewis Nettleship, in his 'Lectures on the Republic of Plato' (1962), has elucidated, 'Justice in Plato's sense, is the power of individual concentration on duty.'

Aristotle is concerned with three types of justice:

  • Distributive justice which deals with treating equals equally
  • Retributive justice - It requires full restoration of any loss involuntarily sustained in the course of transactions.
  • Commutative justice - This principle deals with equivalence of goods and services to be transacted

Rawls in his 'A Theory of Justice' presents justice as fairness. His theory is based on two principles

  • Equality principle - It says each person has equal right to most extensive basic liberties.
  • Difference principle - According to difference principle, economic inequalities are arranged to the greatest benefit of least advantaged.
View of Society and Individuals -

For Plato, justice is about maintaining natural order and hierarchy. He prescribes different duties for different classes of citizens whose fulfilment would be instrumental in building up a just social order. Aristotle viewed society as a structured entity and justice is about fulfilling one's role based on merit and virtue.

Rawls focuses on creating just institutions that maximize fairness for all individuals regardless of their natural abilities or social standing. His concept of 'original position' states that individual differences and talents are irrelevant to decision making.

Equality and Fairness - Plato prescribes different duties for different classes of citizens whose fulfillment would be instrumental in building up a just social order. Plato's theory of justice implied that the life of people should conform to the rule of functional specialization.

For Aristotle, justice is concerned with the regulation of human relations according to merit and functional specialization.

Rawlsian perspective emphasized on equal basic rights and fair opportunities for all. Rawls is more focused on minimizing inequality and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their starting position.

Purpose of Justice -

According to Greek perspective, justice serves to maintain order and harmony within both the individual and the state.

Rawls sees justice as the foundation of a well-ordered society that respects autonomy and freedom of individuals.

Justice and Morality -

Justice in Greek tradition is deeply intertwined with morality and virtue. Plato's idea of justice is related to the moral health of the soul, where a person with just soul is the virtuous one.

Plato and Aristotle argued for 'proportional equality' with the idea of 'righteousness'. Injustice is treating equals unequally and thus justice requires discrimination on the basis of differences, which is relevant to the functions performed.

Rawls separates justice from individual moral virtue, focusing on the justice of institutions rather than the moral character of individuals. His theory of justice is primarily concerned with creating fair system of governance and distribution that ensures fairness for the least advantaged too.

The concept of Justice evolved from, conservative view of Greeks as , "Justice is about practicing one thing only to which man's nature is best adapted" to making consideration about realization of highest human virtues.

According to Rawls, justice is necessary but not a sufficient condition of a good society. Rawls criticized those theories of allocation which ignore moral worth of the individual for the attainment of any predetermined goals. The a state of uncertainty, the rational negotiators will choose to place themselves in a 'least advantaged position'.

Make a comparative assessment of Greek perspective of justice with the Rawlsian concept of Justice. UPSC 2020 Paper 1A - Qn 2a

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