Justice: Rawls v.s Plato
Subject Areas : Research in Theoritical PoliticsKeywords: Plato Fairness Society Rawls Justice,
Abstract :
One of the constant and lasting issues of political philosophy and ethics is justice. That is why philosophers of different epochs and various approaches have dealt with this subject. This article has specifically chosen two philosophers belonging to two different eras, namely Plato and Rawls, who were directly or indirectly preoccupied with the concept of justice. The criteria for choosing these two intellectuals is that, beyond their individuality, they are the representatives of two different models; or more specifically, two opposite models in the field of philosophizing the concept of justice. Therefore, it is attempted to present a portion of their thought on the concept of justice by focusing on the comparable parts of their literary works, namely Plato's "Politics" and Rawls's "A theory on justice". By doing so, we find out that Plato begins the concept of justice from inside of the human being, whereas Rawls begins the issue of justice from outside of man.