A Critical Study on Justice as a Prima Facie Duty

There are several meanings and definitions of Justice in Dictionaries;accordingly, it is used in different areas. But philosophers have tried to getbeyond etymology and dictionary definitions. Although it is said that theyconsider the justness as both a moral virtue and a desirable quality of politicalsociety, it seems most of them apply it more as a political and social conceptthan an individual moral concept and an ethical principal which should governman’s character and behavior. Plato maintains that justice is a virtue in a sensethat each organ performs its appropriate function. For Aristotle, justiceconsists of what is lawful and fair. According to Philosophers like Hobbes,Hume, Mill, and Rawls, justice is a necessity of civil society, as it hasimportant advantages for the society. They focus more on Distributive justiceand Commutative justice. But it seems that this approach to justice isinadequate, because according to this view, the position of justice in moralityin general, and in individual ethics in particular, has been ignored. Therefore,in this paper, I want to explain Ross’s view on justice, as this theory discussesjustice as a human’s moral character; a prima facie duty and an intrinsicallygood thing. Ross’s theory of justice can provide the theories of Distributivejustice and Commutative justice a firm base and a fundamental. It could thusanswer the main questions proposed in this realm. In this case, justice may beregarded as the most fundamental of all virtues for organizing interpersonalrelations and establishing and maintaining a stable political society.

Keywords:

Justice , W. D. Ross , Prima Facie Duty , Intrinsically Good , Distributive Justice and Commutative Justice