ARISTOTLE ON NATURAL JUSTICE
ARISTOTLE ON NATURAL JUSTICE
Author(s): Peter SimpsonSubject(s): Philosophy
Published by: International Étienne Gilson Society
Keywords: justice; natural justice; Aristotle;
Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the problem of natural justice which has been considered by Aristotle in his (1) Nicomachean and Eudemian Ethics and (2) Magna Moralia. In his Nicomachean and Eudemian Ethics Aristotle says of natural justice that it is changeable and not the same everywhere. The implication seems to be that no action, not even murder, is always wrong. But, as is evident especially from his Magna Moralia, Aristotle distinguishes justice into the “what” (equality), the “in what” (proportion between persons and things), and the “about what” (what things are exchanged with which persons). The article concludes that Aristotle allows for variability only in the “about what,” while in the “what” and the “in what” he allows for no variability.
Journal: Studia Gilsoniana
- Issue Year: 2014
- Issue No: 3
- Page Range: 367-376
- Page Count: 10
- Language: English