The Meaning of a Word: Justice Is Just This

1243 Words3 Pages

The are certain words in the English language that are extremely difficult to define therefore to give them meaning, is to enter a fierce debate among thinkers. How does one define a word that is so abstract and whose definition and purpose varies so extensively from nation to nation, language to language, and person to person? One can only hope to grasp the concept of such words, before another person comes up with a slightly more adequate definition than the one currently leading the pack. The reason the definition these words vary as much as they do is simply because their meanings are bottom-line based on opinion. One of these such words is justice. However, many would agree that justice requires a form of equilibrium where every bad action has a reaction, people follow agreed upon rules and laws that are absent of bias towards any particular group, and that these rules as well as justice itself must be moral-based whether religious or natural.

Concepts of justice are as old as civilization itself due to the fact that to get along with each other we need boundaries and rules to know who is right and wrong in doing something. The meaning of words like justice have multiple definitions based solely on who you ask, which would make it highly unlikely to ask to different philosophers the definition to the word justice and receive the same or even a vaguely similar response. Some of the more recognizable historical figures who pursued a definition to the word “justice” are Thomas Jefferson justifying the English colonies’ reasons for separating from Great Britain, Henry David Thoreau in justifying not paying a tax for a cause he did not support, and even Martin Luther King Jr. in justifying breaking unjust laws in his fight for A...

... middle of paper ...

...you wouldn’t want done onto you.” If people keep that in mind at all hours of the day than justice prevails but if they do not then it simply fails.

In conclusion, justice is to know what is right and what is wrong, and consequently taking action when things are wrong. Sadly, this seems naïve at this time because some wrongs continue to go unpunished and people usually put self-interest before the right thing. Justice is one of the things that humans always claim to want as well as things like freedom but can never be wholly accomplished. Thus, it seems that being unbiased and fair to one another is not in human nature or at least not in the majority. Our current societies need to change, for as Aristotle once said “Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”

Open Document