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Philosophy vocabulary · Political Philosophy

Justice

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/ˈdʒʌstɪs/nounCore term

In philosophy, justice means: The fair and proper treatment of people, especially in how a society distributes rights, duties, goods and punishments.

In Turkish: adalet, hakkaniyet

How it is used

Philosophers distinguish distributive justice (who gets what), retributive justice (punishment), corrective justice and procedural justice. Plato's Republic asks what justice is; Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971) presents justice as fairness.

Example sentences

  1. Rawls's theory of justice asks which principles we would choose behind a veil of ignorance.

  2. Is helping people in poverty abroad a matter of justice or of charity?

Common collocations

  • distributive justice
  • social justice
  • theory of justice
  • justice as fairness
  • retributive justice
  • veil of ignoranceJohn Rawls's thought experiment in which people choose principles of justice without knowing their own place in society, such as their class, talents or gender.
  • libertyThe condition of being free to act and choose without unjustified interference, especially from the state or from other people.
  • social contractThe idea that political authority or moral rules are justified because rational people would agree, or have agreed, to accept them for mutual benefit.
  • legitimacyThe quality of political power being rightful, so that those who hold it have a genuine right to rule and people have reasons to obey.

More terms: Political Philosophy

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