THE IDEA OF JUSTICE pdf download

The Idea of Justice by AMARTYA SEN

THE IDEA OF JUSTICE

From the book

To understand the world is never a matter of simply recording our immediate perceptions. Understanding inescapably involves reasoning.

We have to ‘read’ what we feel and seem to see, and ask what those perceptions indicate and how we may take them into account without being overwhelmed by them. One issue relates to the reliability of our feelings and impressions.

 A sense of injustice could serve as a signal that moves us, but a signal does demand critical examination, and there has to be some scrutiny of the soundness of a conclusion based mainly on signals.

 Adam Smith’s conviction of the importance of moral sentiments did not stop him from seeking a ‘theory of moral sentiments’, nor from insisting that a sense of wrong¬ doing be critically examined through reasoned scrutiny to see whether it can be the basis of a sustainable condemnation.

A similar require¬ ment of scrutiny applies to an inclination to praise someone or something.

We also have to ask what kinds of reasoning should count in the assessment of ethical and political concepts such as justice and injus¬ tice.

In what way can a diagnosis of injustice, or the identification of what would reduce or eliminate it, be objective?

Does this demand impartiality in some particular sense, such as detachment from one’s own vested interests?