On the Sense of Justice from the Evolutionary Perspective. In : Jusletter IT – Die Zeitschrift für IT und Recht, Juni 2011, http://jusletter-it.eu. Reprinted in: T. Hribek, J. Hvorecky (eds.), Knowledge, Value, Evolution, London: College Publications, pp. 257-272. (original) (raw)
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Everyone possesses a sense of justice, however misguided it may be. How do people acquire this sense? Where does it come from? In this chapter, I argue that to account for the acquisition of a sense of justice, we must identify the mental mechanisms that produce it and explain how they originated and became refined in the course of human evolution.
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This paper summarizes a theory of fairness that replaces the metaphysical foundations of the egalitarian theory of John Rawls and the utilitarian theory of John Harsanyi with evolutionary arguments. As such, it represents an attempt to realize John Mackie's call for a theory based on the data provided by anthroplogists and the propositions proved by game theorists. The basic claim is that fairness norms evolved as a device for selecting one of the infinity of efficient equilibria of the repeated game of life played by our prehuman ancestors.
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Since antiquity, in all ages, justice has been treated as a parameter to capture the social and political insight into a suitable boundary. However, acknowledging justice from a perspective of common good refresh the hidden objectives of justice that needs to be encapsulated. Both western and eastern philosophy, particularly the process of politicisation of justice, tries to accommodate the political sphere of justice into a bottle of common good. Of course, the nature of justice can only be defined as a matter of distributive concept, for instance distribution of primary goods lead to the realization of being a member of political community. Historically the manner of justice has been evolving to pursue a good society, not only for individuals rather the essence of justice enhances the complexity of global interdependence through divers conceptual and theoretical standards. This paper will be analysing the basic historical and philosophical interpretations with regard to justice, moreover the amalgamation of justice with Common Good will also be taken into consideration.
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The origins and development of concepts of justice are examined from three theoretical points of view—learning theory, psychoanalysis, and cognitive developmental theory. Cognitive developmental theory and research, particularly the work of Piaget and Kohlberg, has contributed most to our understanding of children's ideas of justice and how these change and mature. Empirical data supporting the hypothesis that concepts of justice develop through a fixed and invariant sequence of stages is reviewed together with hypotheses and studies related to the process of transition from one stage to the next. Knowledge about the course of development needs to be supplemented, through systematic research, with information about aspects of the socialization process as antecedents of mature concepts of justice and of behavior consistent with these concepts.
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This chapter examines the relation between distributive doctrines and human evolution. It reviews responses to the assumption that evolutionary data has conservative implications that deny the accuracy of some alleged facts, their natural origin, their social or biomedical immutability, or their normative implications. It also offers an evolutionary account of "liberté, égalité, fraternité" for humans and other mammalian persons and discusses various ways in which human nature may have more than merely instrumental relevance to distributive justice. For example, human rights, flourishing and capabilities, as well as the principles of sufficiency, priority and equality, that may regulate their distribution, can be traced to facts about our species.
International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 2020
Following Mill’s (1859) definition, the ‘harm principle’ came to dominate legal debates about crime and the appropriate response of the justice system, effectively replacing official talk of morality in modern secular societies. However, the harm principle has collapsed without an accepted definition of harm or a method to adjudicate between competing claims. To address this, we propose a definition of ‘good’ derived from evolutionary perspectives. From this, a universal goal for society can be recognised, specific objectives to reach that goal can be listed, and a new definition for harm can be used to repair the harm principle and restore its ability to underpin criminal law and the principles of justice in society.
The future evolution of the human might not be marked so much by his physical change, as by his moral development. I will offer three argumants in favor of the thesis that humanity is gradually moving in the direction of superior moral relations, i.e. the configuration of individuals and societies with an expanded inclination toward justice. The first argument is Kant's, the second Doyle's (which is in fact an indirect argument), while the third one is my own contribution to the discussion. All three arguments I will not only present, but also explain how they relate to each other. I will conclude that the thesis about the gradual development of humanity in the direction of social relations with a stronger foundation in justice can be cogently substantiated.