Thoughts on Justice

Thinking upon the seeming mystery of Justice

Justice

What is Justice?

If you are Plato

Then it is the harmonious soul

Where Wisdom leads

Courage guides

Moderation restrains the appetite

And Virtue thrives in a man

If you are American

Then it is Freedom

Freedom where all have rights

Rights where all have equal opportunity

Rights that are protected

That must be protected

For an ungrateful people

By a corrupt government

Rights that give one not only a claim

But also a privilege to enact his freedom

And if that is restrained

Injustice rules the city

And laws upon countless laws must be put down

To reclaim justice

But if you are Plato

This only demonstrates a nation's sickness

How virtue has been forgotten

How the people will find new ways to disobey

Without Locke, there is no thought of Just Freedom

Without Paine, there is no thought of Just Liberality

Without Voltaire, there is no thought against Oppressive Institutions

Without Plato, there is no Soul

Without Souls, there can be no Virtue

Without Virtue, there can be no City

Without a City, there can be no People

And without People, there can be no Justice

Still, Justice remains unanswered

Will the Universe provide it?

Will God provide it?

Did Plato, Locke, Paine, or Voltaire provide it?

Or Is it not an absolute thing?

Instead morphed and directed by the whims of humankind

If that is the case

Is Justice an actual thing?

If not, then let us assume it to be absolute

A value known to all of mankind

A value that finds itself in all places

All times

And all people

Being found in every single action

Every single change in thought

In motion

In nature

In civilization

In culture

In man

There, Justice may be found

And if not...

Then, what are we driven by?

Why do we become angry?

Angry at what we deem Unjust

Why do we become elated?

Elated at what we deem Just

Would Justice be some sort of satisfaction?

Some exactment that leaves our hearts pleased

And our minds at rest

Knowing it has been done

So is Justice then simply a pleasing of the heart?

An easing of the mind?

How can we know if we know nothing of it?

Is it right to describe Justice as a mere comfort

As a mere feeling that emits endorphins

Dopamine

Serotonin

Oxytocin

Other chemicals that produce feelings of happiness

If that is so, then Justice again becomes non-absolute

A mere subjective

For humans encounter many things

Many things that produce such feelings

Many things that not all would call justice

Since those things are many

And since there are many people

Many different people

People who hold to different opinions

Different beliefs

Love different things

Hate different things

Want different things

Fight for different things

Speak of different things

Think of different things

If Justice were to be applied here

Justice itself differs

Becomes ambiguous once more

Unknown to all those who say they know it

But if they say they know it

Mustn't they have encountered it before

To, in some way or fashion,

Gain an example of it

A definition

A thought

An idea

Of what it could or might be?

This case is likely

We argue and debate over it as if it is so

Believing we all know what it is

Confirming that it is a real thing

A real thing that is known of

A real thing that is debated over

If it wasn't

We wouldn't care

Or find it worth discussing

So now, Justice

Now proven existing

Must be defined

But how

And by whom

"Study the world and you will find Justice,"

They say

Then it is the world we will continue to study

It always is wondering about the thing

As we look, we see it is titled

"That which is right, true, and fair,"

Many might define it as

That is when we strip away the cause applied to Justice

For if many things are called Justice

And each given that same definition of the thing

Then Justice is no longer one easily spotted thing

But many specific ones

Abstraction is then our only way

So, the world defines Justice

Uses it everywhere

In debates or wars

Calling their cause such a thing

Justice then is as defined earlier

Purely in abstraction

But then becomes something else when used

A movement, one might say

Where Justice is used as a defining tool

And not as a tool for what is

Right

True

Fair

Only what is wanted by people

So justice is pure in abstract and definition

Yet muddled in practice