Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics Book V
JUSTICE- can either mean lawfulness
or fairness, since injustice is
lawlessness and unfairness.
- Law encourages people to
behave virtuously
Virtue- deals with one’s moral state
Justice- deals with one’s relations with
others
Universal v Particular Justice
Universal Justice- state of a person
who is generally lawful and fair
Particular Justice- deals with “divisible”
goods of honor, money, and safety
- “one’s persons gain of such
goods corresponds the loss of
another”
- “zero-sum goods” (honor, money,
and safety)
Examples:
- If I steal fifty dollars from you, my
unjust gain of fifty dollars results
to your loss of fifty dollars
- An assault on an enemy ensure
one’s safety to the extent of
hurting another’s(enemy) safety
Two forms of Particular Justice:
Distribute and Rectificatory
(Corrective) Justice
Distributive- distribution of wealth
among members of a community
- Proportionate Justice
- Geometric proportion of what
each person receives are
equivalent to that of his merit or
to his/her dues
- Wealth and honor be distributed
according to virtue
“The most virtuous people make the
most significant contributions to the
life of the city, hence they have the
right to the greatest honors”
- Hence, a good person receives
more than a bad person
- A virtuous mean between the
giving more than a person
deserves and giving less
Examples:
- A shoe maker cannot exchange
one shoe for one harvest since
shoes and harvest are not of
equal value
- Hence, shoemaker would have to
give more shoes that are
proportional to the value of the
crops the farmer gives.
- “Money reflects demand placed
on various goods and allows for
just exchanges”
Rectificatory(corrective)- a remedy to
unequal distributions of gain and loss
- concerned with rectifying
transactions where someone was
treated unjustly or unfairly by
another
- the act of righting injustice
- -may be called in cases of
injustice involving transactions
between two people
- justice is restored in a court case,
where the judge ensures that the
gains and losses of both parties
 Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics Book V

are equaled out, hence, restoring

a mean.
True justice comes from a virtuous
Examples: disposition
- Commencement of trials, truth - Those who lacks in virtues are
commissions, financial restitution unable to perceive the just course
to correct a wrong done. of action in all cases.
Political Justice v Domestic Justice Equity, is necessary to mend the
imbalance and on particular
circumstances when laws are not
Political Justice- governed by the rule perfectly applicable
of law
“Hence, equity is superior to legal
-based in part on natural law, which is justice but inferior to absolute
the same for all people, and in part on justice”
particular legal conventions
Injustice requires two people
Domestic Justice- relies more on
- one person gaining at another’s
respect
expense
- one person losses as a result of
another’s gain
An agent is responsible only for acts of
injustice done voluntarily. “Even in cases of suicide, it is not the
victim that suffers an injustice, but
the state.”
We call injustice, done out of:
Ignorance = “mistakes”
Plans went awry = “misadventures”
ANALYSIS
Done knowingly but without
premeditation = “injuries” What is Justice according to
Aristotle?
“Ignorance could only be an excuse if
it is reasonably unavoidable” - it consists of restoring or
maintaining a proper balance
- justice involving criminal cases
Aristotle- “no one can willingly suffer an = “involuntary”
injustice” - justice involving legal commerce
- When goods are unjustly = “voluntary”
distributed, distributor is more For Aristotle,
culpable than the one who
receives the biggest share - it is difficult to find commonality
between a commercial
 Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics Book V
transaction(commerce) and
brutal assault (criminal case)
- they both however, involve
exchanges between two people:
o one person gaining unfair
advantage
o one person to receive an
equivalent disadvantage
- Justice deals with maintaining a
proper balance
- Hence, any case resulting in an
unfair advantage or disadvantage
is a concern of justice
“Just behavior is tantamount to a
virtuous behavior, justice
encompasses all the other virtues”
The earlier suggestion that justice
involves restoring or ensuring balance
fits very nicely with Aristotle’s Doctrine
of the Mean
Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean-
- all excellence makes what has it good,
and enables it to function/perform well
Examples:
- excellence of an eye makes it
good, and enables it to function
well as an eye; excellence of an
eye means being able to see well
- excellence of a good human
being would be that disposition of
“what makes a good human
being?” and “what enables him to
perform his function well?”
Justice – is a mean of state of people
having their proper dues
Injustice – people having either too
much or too little
- is a result of wanting more than
one’s fair share
Particular Injustice – tantamount to
greed or the desire to gain more than
one’s due
- someone who commits adultery
for the sake of gain is behaving
unjustly
- However, someone who loses
money by committing adultery out
of lust is exhibiting the vice of
licentiousness (unprincipled in
sexual matters), not injustice
- Behavior motivated by lust or
anger is not unjust but rather
licentious
Zero-sum exchange of goods- a gain
of one person’s money, honor, and
safety corresponds the loss for another,
respectively.
This notion is problematic since it is far
from clear that one person’s gain is
always equal to another person’s loss.
Example:
- If I steal an item of great personal
value (sentimental item) to you,
my gain is not equal to your loss;
your loss far exceeds my gain.
 Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics Book V

Presumably, a person can suffer a loss

and hence suffer an injustice, as a result
someone else’s lust, anger or cowardice

The idea of justice as a zero-sum game

(where a person’s loss results gain to
another), is not entirely consistent with
Aristotle’s discussion of virtue.
(Refer to Distribute Justice)

Aristotle’s Distributive Justice

reinforces his aristocratic bias
- Women, working men and slaves
do not have the freedom to
fully exercise all the virtues,
hence they receive a lesser share
of the city’s wealth.
- Those who have the greatest
access to the leisure, freedom,
and wealth necessary for virtue
are the most deserving of their
great privilege.
Aristotle would have seen his distribute
justice not as reinforcing an unjust
aristocracy but ensuring the best form
of aristocracy.
For his concept of Distribute Justice
- it is meant to ensure that the
greatest privilege go to those
male aristocrats who exhibit
greatest virtue, rather than those
who have the greatest wealth,
military strength or most friends.
Aristotle sees himself as trying to
defend just institution not trying to
perpetuate injustice.