Title: Justice and Morality • Isaac Morehouse
Headings: Justice and Morality
Justice and Morality
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Content: What would justice demand from you in the car theft scenario? The nice thing is, we don’t have to decide in the abstract. Justice always takes place in a social context, and the process seems just as important as the outcome. For productive cooperation, the systems that determine and deal with injustice are best when they are transparent, stable yet flexible, knowable in advance, and not applied preemptively. Even though everyone may acknowledge that your theft of the car was unjust, if the process allows arbitrators to consider circumstances, they may let you off, or they may ask only that you pay the owner a small fee. These contexts are rich, and the owner has a lot to consider as well. Perhaps she hears your story and decides not to pursue any recompense. Maybe she is really ticked and wants to, but realizes the social approbation she’ll get for doing so isn’t worth it, even though she would win her case. Since justice exists only in a social context, and for the use and benefit of humans, even if it is violated, there needn’t be black and white, always-and-everywhere rules demanding uniform punishment. Though a uniform and recognizable process is needed, uniform outcomes don’t seem to be.