Jemina Guenevere O.

Osalla BSN 2Y1-3

Reflection Paper on Justice

Justice is something that we want from this society and believe that this should be an integral part of our
legal system. However, the true meaning of justice is very difficult to define. Some of the greatest philosophers
known gave their etymology regarding the meaning of justice. Plato, being known as one of the world’s best
known and most widely read philosophers, stated that justice is a “human virtue” which makes a person good. It
is actually a quality of the soul in virtue of which men set aside the irrational desire to taste every pleasure and
to get a selfish satisfaction. I believe this statement is true and should be applied because we are living in a
world where everybody is asking for equality and fair treatment yet they are the ones who aren’t doing it.

Another well known philosopher, St. Augustine, who happens to be the first Christian philosopher also gave
his own understanding of justice which is “giving every man his due” which means justice is love serving God
only and therefore ruling well all else. I agree to this because wherever God does not receive his due, there can
be no justice. If we think about it, justice is somehow connected to our relationship with God. We can only have
access to justice if we know we become one with Him. But because humans are known to be sinful, most of us
are incapable to accept God, making us unjust. I think this is also the reason why they say that this world is evil;
it’s because of the numerous temptations this world has to offer.

I am also convinced by Kant’s notion of justice. It is a virtue whereby we respect others’ freedom,
autonomy, and dignity by not interfering with their voluntary actions. We cannot compel others to be virtuous,
since virtue is a free act of the will but we can compel others to observe the rules and punish those who violate
the rights. There are two elements in his notion: the first one is the obligation of others to respect my rights and,
second, my right to use defensive force against those who violate my rights. I greatly believe that justice is
connected to respect. If we know how to respect the rights of others, then we are practicing justice in ourselves.

Lastly, Aquinas’ view about justice also made me agree that it is not only concerned about individual good
but also about the welfare of the community. If we think about it everyone is a part of the community; therefore,
all our individual actions affects the community as a whole. For example, we Filipinos always have this
thinking that people living in Tondo are known to be notorious, leading us to the conclusion that they are not
practicing justice. The individual characteristics can affect the notion of other people towards their whole
community. For this reason we should expect the community to enact laws that will govern its members in ways
that are beneficial to everyone. In this way, just and fair treatment would be exercised.

I chose these four great philosophers about their concepts of justice since it enlightened me to what this is
all about. Justice is an act that makes a person good, teach us respect and compassion towards others, and above
all it deepens our relationship with God. I just realized that being just needs all of these specially respect. If you
know how to respect people then they will do the same to you. If you are God-fearing then, you will be afraid to
break the rules and commit a sin. If you are a compassionate type of person, you will have sympathy and
concern for others. There are countless of situations that remind me of the word justice while doing this and all
of them helped to understand the true meaning of what it is all about. But above all the most important thing
that I learned is that without justice, peace will remain as a great illusion.