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Impact of Justice

ems8140's picture
Submitted by ems8140 on Sun, 04/10/2011 - 8:25pm

In Professor Dalke’s section on Thursday, we discussed the difference between generosity and justice. The concept of generosity includes the idea of string-less gifts. Justice, on the other hand, requires accommodation to address inequality. In my belief, I think that an individual or a system should be rational and emotional when dealing with justice. I don’t think that justice should be witless or algorithmic, as also discussed in class. Justice can’t both be algorithmic and emotional, which are opposing ideas in this sense. We talked about various scenarios and how to form a perfectly just classroom or environment. I don’t think that pure justice can be plausible in a given situation because it is likely that at least one person would not find some aspect unfair. Because of this lack of equal justice for everyone, I think that the best way to deal with the concept of justice is through a subjective point of view. If people only view dispensing justice objectively, then different circumstances will fail to be recognized, and decisions will not be just. The impact of evolution on justice was also discussed in class. Based on my subjective viewpoint for justice, I think that justice should evolve over time. Because of the evolution of justice, what was once considered fair may have changed over the years. If justice were to remain a static, foundational story, then there would be no social change among people because they would remain with one given set of rules and fail to expand beyond.    

 

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ashley's picture

Do Accomodations for One Mean Injustice for Others?

Submitted by ashley on Mon, 04/11/2011 - 12:00am.

I agree with you on this idea that justice should involve emotion. I think that to some degree there has to be rigidity to the structure, but one must also look at the specifics of each individual case before making the final judgment on what is to occur to the person being charged. Those who do things out of malice should be treated with a heavier hand in order to convey that their behavior is unacceptable and to impede such actions from occurring in the future.

If, like in our example from discussion, an individual was caught stealing medicine for a sick family member, I would not personally choose as severe of a punishment as towards an action done out of malice. Also to be taken into consideration, now that we are talking about justice, are the injustices within society that have driven the individual to such extremes as stealing. If there was justice and equality in their everyday lives then there would have been no need to rely on such measures. Due to these external factors that provide injustices to the individual, they should not be held solely to blame. Of course I do not think that they are free of guilt. Their actions are still their actions, but all aspects of a situation should be taken into account in determining fair treatment.

Also, touching on this idea of education, our discussion group seemed to reach the consensus that within a classroom all students should be treated exactly the same. One student should not receive any type of special treatment if they are to be within a "just" classroom. I would argue quite the opposite. It is not unfair treatment if the other classmates do not NEED the special treatment. The only reason that accommodations are made is to level the playing field, and in that making it a just setting for those who are struggling. If one student who needs extra time to complete an assignment receives it, how does that in any way negatively affect classmates? It does nothing to impede the performance of others but allows this individual to reach the level that others are at. So, I would argue that within a classroom, equality comes in terms of having personal needs met which allow everyone to perform at the same level.

 

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