Social justice

Social Justice is a concept that has fascinated philosophers ever since Plato rebuked the young Sophist, Thrasymachus, for asserting that justice was whatever the strongest decided it would be. In The Republic, Plato formalised the argument that an ideal state would rest on four virtues: wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice.

The conceptual problem

Social Justice derives its authority from the codes of morality prevailing in each culture. In an ideal world, human behaviour could be improved by convincing everyone to adopt the principles of moral philosophy. But the human propensity to evaluate shades of grey becomes the catalyst for a problem that can be stated simply: If a moral code may sometimes require a person to do something that would not be for his or her own benefit, why should that person decide to be "moral" and so act in a correspondingly "just" way?

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