Justice: Simple Theories, Complex Applications (original) (raw)

1987, The Southern Journal of Philosophy

A theory ofjustice aims to proviL.: an account of what L4ermines the validity of social practices. It is meant to inform the decisions ofjurists, voters, legislators, policy makers, constitutional theorists, etc. Applying a theory of justice runs into paradoxes seldom explicitly examined. In theory, proposed principles have a simple relation to existing social practices-the practices are not a product of the theory. In application, principles are complexly related to social practices because repeated applications are not independent of each other over time. Those applications occurring later in a series encounter a social reality partially molded by those occurring earlier. Earlier applications are among the causes of social practices forming the contexts of later applications. Later applications depend upon references to those earlier for interpreting meanings and for determining extensions of terms not fixed by theory alone.