Justice — The Right Ordering of Relationships
Justice (Dikaiosyne, Tzedek, Adl) is universally recognized as the virtue that governs right relationships between persons and groups — ensuring that each being receives what is due to them and that power is exercised in service to the common good.
The ancient Greek, Hebraic, Islamic, and Confucian traditions all place justice (alongside love) at the heart of all social and political ethics. Plato's Republic defines justice as each part of the soul and each class of society performing its proper function — an organic harmony of parts serving the whole. The Hebrew Tzedek (justice) is inextricably linked with Chesed (loving-kindness) — the prophets consistently insist that justice without love becomes legalism, and love without justice becomes sentimentality. The Islamic Al-Adl (perfect justice) is one of the 99 names of God — justice is a divine attribute that humans are called to embody. Confucian Yi (righteousness, justice) is the virtue that ensures social relationships fulfill their proper purposes. What is universal is the recognition that justice is not merely legal compliance but the active orientation of power toward the flourishing of all, particularly those most vulnerable to its misuse.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Philosopher John Rawls' 'veil of ignorance' thought experiment — designing social institutions as if one did not know one's position in society — is a modern philosophical formalization of the universal wisdom that justice requires the perspective of those least privileged in the social order.
Universal Wisdom