Approaching Aristotle’s Theory of Justice and John Rawls’s Theory of Justice as Fairness

Abstract

The Greeks have left the legacy of a metaphysical and ethical-political concept of justice. Justice was first dealt with systematically by Aristotle in book 05 of The Nichomachean Ethics. The meaning and forms of justice outlined in this work have not undergone significant changes in the history of Western thought, and today they are still references for determining and understanding justice. This paper aims at critically contrasting Aristotle?s theory of justice and the main contemporary models of justice, such as John Rawls?s Theory of Justice as Fairness, as well as identifying differences and similarities between the above mentioned models. Its main goal is to attempt to identify influences and similar aspects between Aristotle?s thought and Rawls?s deontological and procedural concept of justice, showing that Aristotle has influenced not only communitarism, but also modern liberal theories. This similarity can be observed in the definition of ethos, when the philosopher takes as a starting point a concrete moral judgement, according to the modes and customs institutionalized by society, and the experience in the polis (the community's moral sense) to achieve a universal norm, which is very similar to what Rawls proposed in his theory through the “reflective balance” between the principles of justice and the “pondered judgements”.