Quote of the Day - 07.12.2013

The cause is fear. We are afraid of having to make decisions on our own responsibility. 
(Morris Ginsberg, 'The Concept of Justice')

Ginsberg explains here the positivist point of view on Justice -that justice cannot be ascribed to an a priori ideal, but is governed by the emotions of a particular society and expressed in its laws. Nothing is intrinsically just or unjust, if it follows the law it is just, if it doesn't it is. These laws will be set by the society based on emotion, but these emotions cannot be said to be given by a greater authority (God, for example).

For scholars of this school of thought, the need to ascribe such views on what is and isn't right to a higher authority is due to fear. There is nothing intrinsic about the beliefs, they are the product of a society which write laws which form justice. We claim a higher moral authority because we are incapable of claiming for ourselves what we feel to be true unless we can back it up.

This view is, as Ginsberg points out, unsustainable. Certainly there is an innate understanding of right and wrong, we can look around us and see that things are unjust, wrong, even if they are legal. Thus, for example, we condemn corporations that don't pay tax fairly. Fairness being somehow caught up with the equally intangible concept of justice.

In terms of this quote however, what I would argue that ascribing something to a greater moral code is not a fearful response. Thought it is an argument I have come across many times in my life. As an Anglican (Christian) I have often been accused of using faith as a crutch to protect myself from the world. In this particular case, the suggestion is that my belief in a higher power somehow abrogates me of responsibility for justice. But nothing could be further from the truth. If I believe that my views on right and wrong come from an infinitely wise and powerful being I don't have less responsibility, I have more. I have to live up to those views, and fight against injustice elsewhere.

If justice is just the law then I will not fight to change the world around me, regardless of how wrong it is. When justice becomes something more than that I must protect and promote it. It is not a cowardly belief that protects me, but one that challenges me, removes my comfort zone and tells me to be better, try harder and consider people other than myself.