What is justice - Essay Example

? and Section # of What is justice? What is Fairness? What do these mean in a fulfilled humanlife? Justice, is the concept of having moral feedback to an individual's actions. In simple words, it is having one get what they deserve. Fairness on the other hand is to consider equally all options before a person. In simple words, it is an absence of bias. The two terms are used interchangeably but while they are actually two distinct concepts, the fact is that fairness is a form of justice (Rawls, 2003), and there can be no justice without fairness, so perhaps that is not without cause. Fairness is a fundamental concept of modern human ethics, and is considered as what distinguishes society today from the ancient civilizations of the past. Basically, it means that a modern day king would get the same form of justice to his actions as any commoner would. This is illustrated by many examples of today where CEO's get arrested for money laundering, or politicians get arrested for minor or major offenses . It was also seen prevalently throughout the texts we considered, particularly in the story, Things Fall Apart (1994), where the tribal chief is sent into exile by consensus from the clansmen, showing how he was considered just as fairly as anyone else in the tribe would have been. Indeed the very concept of democracy lies on fairness (Saunders, 2008), with each citizen having an equal say in their chosen ruler, and an equal opportunity to stand for that position as well. Justice on the other hand deals more with how that fairness is delivered. While the same treatment may be given to a king or a commoner, the question is of what that treatment should be, and whether it is in proportionality to the action of the individual. For example, in the aforementioned text, when the chief was exiled, was it justified to give him seven years of exile for the death of a child? Perhaps so, but perhaps would others would consider it differently. In certain countries, there is a death penalty for murder, in others it is life imprisonment. Which of these is justified, and thereby justice, and which of them is too strict or too lenient? That sadly is a matter of perspective, one which has no concrete answer, but rather is shaped through debates and gradual changes. Justice is a concept explored throughout literature, particularly poetry. The poet Rumi wrote extensively about divine justice, that is the justice of god and the moral answer to every action a mortal commits. (Breton, 1998) To a fulfilled human being, fairness is to be treated according to the same principals as everyone else and on the same footing (Kunnan, 2003). It is to not be biased against based on the color of their skin, their ethnicity, their gender or any other factor that is based on anything but their own moral actions. To be treated without racial prejudice and bias and without keeping classes or sects in view, is to be treated as an individual and a human being, and thereby, with fairness. Furthermore, for a fulfilled life, the role of justice would be, when one would wish for their actions to bear fruit for them, and for them to be repaid according to what they give to the world. If someone does good, they would want that good in return. And if they are wronged, they would want to be compensated for that in a way where the guilty party is held responsible for their actions. A world where actions means consequences, in direct proportionality to the actions that give rise to them, would be justice. And to have those consequences be the same for everyone, regardless for who the person committing the actions may be, is to have fairness. Both these concepts, hand in hand, would lead towards a fulfilled human life. 2. Exploitation is ongoing Our world today has come a long way from its primitive ways of thinking and dealing. We as a modern race pride ourselves on civilized behavior and a system of justice where every individual is protected from the harm of another. If anyone is wronged, it is seen to that they are avenged. The constitutions of all major countries in the world protect the rights of its citizens and emphasize on free will and the protection of their right to live their lives in peace and comfort. Sadly though, that is only an ideal that we constantly strive to achieve and wish to be living in. Only the very optimistic would think that the world lives on that level of comfort. The reality is that only a few, highly developed nations, can say without contest that the majority of their citizens, while living in poverty or unemployment, or other destitute conditions, are there by and large of their own accord. It is not the responsibility of anyone else that they are in those conditions. Furthermore, and more importantly, they are not being exploited by anyone. Each citizen of a developed country relies on only themselves for their living, and do not seek the lives of anyone else to do so. They do not exploit anyone for their own benefit, be it a monetary benefit or the benefit of manpower. Unfortunately however, in countries of the world that are still developing, because they are on a crossroads between the confined and restricted ways of the past, and the free ways of the future, they find themselves at a brink. These countries find that some of their people have managed to move into the future, while some are still in the past, stuck in the old ways of exploitation and deceit. Consider the country of India alone. As depicted in the film Water (2006) we see many incidents throughout the book that focuses on examples of exploitation that are sadly highly commonplace and prevalent throughout the country, even today. For example, Chuiya, the young thirteen year old girl in the book is married to a much older man of about sixty years of age. Naturally, the only cause of this would be money or stability that they seek for their child. As a result, it can be assumed that the parents are exploiting the old man for his money and their young child for her youth. The old man is also exploiting the young girl, by promising her family stability, but in return taking her innocence and youth from her, a practice not uncommon in many countries of Asia, and some rare cases in Europe or America too (Weiner & Estes, 2001). Later in the story, we see that the same girl goes to an Ashram, a sort of sanctuary for young widows. Here, the young widows are exploited by the sanctuary by being sold out as prostitutes to adult men. It is exploitation because the young girls are helpless and have no other place to live, and the men, knowing that, still come and are willing to pay for them. This is an incentive enough for the Ashram caretakers to keep them there, a practice that is sadly still ongoing in India (Vimla, 1998), and is not far from the women of Ancient India (Bader, 2001) In the book Anowa (1970) the author shows how women are oppressed in her tribe, and how they are exploited for work. They are kept confined to their houses and shunned if they choose to live another life. Of course housewives are not exploited but for a society to refuse to marry girls past a certain age, or of a certain degree of freedom, is basically like the society exploiting the young girls for their youth and confinement in closed quarters (Oduyoye, 1995). From the examples of exploited Muslims in the poetry of Iqbal (1927), and the picture of Africa painted by Anowa and Achebe (2010), it is obvious that exploitation is something that has been in the world since the years of before, and is prevalent even today. Sadly it seems that it will continue to be so because it is a cycle, one that is perpetuated and continued by all who are in it, and until the whole world develops to the same front, it seems that exploitation will be one of the issues that there is to combat. References 1. Aidoo, A. Anowa 1970 2. Achebe, C. An Image of Africa/ The Trouble with Nigeria Penguin Classics 2010 3. Achebe, C. Things Fall Apart Anchor 1994 4. Bader, C. Women in Ancient India, Trubner's Oriental Series. Routledge, 2001. 5. Breton, D. Love, Soul & Freedom: Dancing With Rumi on the Mystic Path, Hazelden Publishing & Educational Services; 1998 6. Iqbal Zabur-i-Ajam: Persian Psalms 1927 7. Kunnan, A. Fairness and Justice for All, California State University, Los Angeles, 2000 8. M. Oduyoye Daughters of Anowa: African women and patriarchy, Orbis Books 1995 9. Drayton, R. The wealth of the west was built on Africa's exploitation, The Guardian, 2005 10. Rawls, J Justice as fairness: a restatement, Harvard University Press, 2003 11. Saunders, B. Democracy-as-fairness: justice, equal chances and lotteries. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, Volume 2, Issue 1, University of Oxford 12. Vimla Dang. "Feudal mindset still dogs women's struggle". The Tribune. 19th June 1998 13. Weiner, N. & Estes, R. The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children In the U. S., Canada and Mexico, University of Pennsylvania 2001 14. Water. Dir. Deepa Mehta, Deepa Mehta Films, 2006, DVD. Read More