Justice

I believe that there should be another category or theory of intrinsic value and goodness. The proposed theories all have a lot of power, but when combined they can mean a lot more. A simple concept that I think captures all of these theories is justice. Justice has intrinsic value because it provides a mix of the goodness theories that have been laid out. In simple terms it can be defined as giving everything it’s due right.

In terms of ecosystems and well-being (two things which are thought to have intrinsic value), you have to give due right to both. Our well-being is important and “good” and so is the ecosystem that we are surrounded by. In order to give due rights to both, we  cannot havoc the ecosystem without any cause. We also cannot let our desires take over an intrinsic good that exists, but rather we can use it in a way that increases our well-being without doing much harm. In the case of animals which are part of ecosystems, I think it would be wrong to say that we cannot kill any animal for our own well-being. Also, it would be wrong to say that animals don’t have any right over us which we should abide by. The best way to give due rights to both, our well-being and animals, would be to slaughter animals in a way that does not afflict them with much pain. As humans who have a higher understanding, we acknowledge that animals can feel pain and should use that knowledge to kill them in way that minimizes pain when needed for our own well-being.

We also have to be just with ourselves and our bodies. Our mental state of well-being cannot simply be the definition of good if we violate rights that we have to our own bodies. This means that we should not do things that could cause us harm to a different part of ourselves, our body.

Justice is something that also prevails when dealing with equality. When talking about justice and equality when someone is being treated equally with everything they are not necessarily being dealt with in a just way. A hypothetical situation can be created if there is a fence in which 3 people need to look over it to watch a sporting event. The three people would something to stand on in order to see. It would be considered equality if every one of them was given the same thing. However, a shorter person may still be too short to look over the fence. In that sense justice would be the ultimate good that would allow all of them to look over the fence. If the shorter person was given something taller to stand on justice would prevail. This means that the greater good was done by being just.¹

¹http://kathyescobar.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/equality-vs-justice.jpg