- 1
551–479 BCE · ChineseConfucius
Justice flows from virtue — when rulers are humane and names fit realities, the people follow like grass bending in the wind.
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c. 428–348 BCE · Ancient GreekPlato
Thrasymachus says justice is the advantage of the stronger; Socrates answers that justice is the harmony of the soul and the city, each part doing its own work.
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384–322 BCE · Ancient GreekAristotle
Distributive justice gives equals equal shares in proportion to merit; corrective justice restores balance; equity corrects the law where it is too general.
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c. 200 BCE · IndianThe Bhagavad Gītā
Justice as dharma — each fulfilling the duty of their station; Arjuna must fight a righteous war.
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354 – 430 · Patristic & MedievalAugustine of Hippo
Without justice, what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers?
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1225 – 1274 · Patristic & MedievalThomas Aquinas
Human law must accord with natural law; “an unjust law is no law at all”.
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1469 – 1527 · ItalianNiccolò Machiavelli
Politics has its own logic; the prince must learn how not to be good.
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1632 – 1704 · British & IrishJohn Locke
Justice protects natural rights to life, liberty and property; governments that violate them may be resisted.
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1711 – 1776 · British & IrishDavid Hume
Justice is an “artificial virtue” — a convention that arises because goods are scarce and benevolence limited.
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1712 – 1778 · FrenchJean-Jacques Rousseau
Inequality began with private property; legitimate law expresses the general will.
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1724 – 1804 · German-languageImmanuel Kant
Justice is the coexistence of each person’s freedom with everyone’s under universal law; persons have dignity, never mere price.
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1818 – 1883 · German-languageKarl Marx
Justice under capitalism is class domination dressed as fairness; “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”.
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1844 – 1900 · German-languageFriedrich Nietzsche
“Justice” often hides ressentiment — the revenge of the weak; noble justice is the generosity of the strong.
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1913 – 1960 · FrenchAlbert Camus
Rebellion must have limits; no revolution may murder in the name of future justice.
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The planned page on John Rawls (A Theory of Justice, 1971 — the “veil of ignorance”) will complete this ladder in the modern era.
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