When I was defining justice, I included in my definition that in a just society, the minimum requirement is that every person has his or her basic needs met. Even if life is not as wonderful as it could be and people do not get everything they want, I would say it is a just society because people have what they need and therefore can continue to survive. It is not realistic to assume that everyone will live the most fulfilling life possible, so we have to settle for people surviving. I know that this sounds pessimistic and that life is not just about surviving, it is about actually living but when resources are strained and inequality seems almost inevitable, it is what we have to aim for. Furthermore, if a society is rampant with crime, poverty and hunger, then that society is not fully just because people are not living in a safe environment where it is easy to survive, and they do not have their basic need of nourishment fulfilled.
Now, on Monday when we were talking about the biggest injustice we had ever experienced, I noticed that many people brought up topics that would make their lives easier and more worthwhile. I definitely think that the topics we discussed were injustices, and maybe the biggest we have experienced, but I thought it would be interesting to examine some of the smaller injustices. Things like being able to drink alcohol when you are 18 would definitely be enjoyable to some, but it is not essential for survival, so is it really that important? The injustice I came up with was that I grew up in a community that lacked diversity, whether it is socio-economic, racial, religious, etc. I think that this stunted my development as a person and did not allow me to have a realistic view of the world. My life would have been more meaningful if my community/school had been more diverse, but my basic needs were met. So… was I living a just life? My basic needs were met. I had food, shelter, clothing, an education. Or was it unjust because I did not have everything I needed to thrive?
I would like to know if people agree with the definition I explained in the beginning. I would also like to ask… Do you think people who are not sitting in a college classroom, that have not received as much education, that did not grow up with enough food or a safe place to live, would their biggest injustices be different than ours? I do not want to assume that everyone in the class always had their basic needs met, but I think it’s safe to say that the majority of us did when we were growing up.
I never considered to define justice from this perspective, but I can completely agree with you Michelle. Many of the comments did focus on things that would make their lives more pleasurable, but as you stated they were not essential or detrimental to their basic survival. In response to your ending questions, I think it's safe to say that there would definitely be a difference in perception of justice and injustices when all of those factors are considered individually. Personally, my basic needs were met, but not without sacrifice and hard work on my parents' end which comes with many injustices of its own. Also you posed the question can your life be seen as just when you weren't afforded the opportunity to experience diversity in your community. Personally I would say your life would have been more enriched, but at the end of the day you still had the necessities making it just. If anything the greatest injustice would have been if you hadn't come to the realization that being exposed to diverse groups has an effect on development and people's perceptions of themselves and society.
ReplyDeleteLike Destiny, I never thought justice as giving people, what they need to survive. What comes to my mind, if we talk about that aspect of justice, is, how we define the needed things to survive. Is that only food, a place to live and water? Or do we also consider aspects like friends, family and maybe even a right of participating in a social life as needed to survive? If we do so, how do we make sure that everybody has the same level of fulfilled needs, because what people need can by very different.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I really believe that these "soft facts" are really important to survive for human beings. This can be seen, if we think of this experiment, which was done by a german emperor in the medieval: He tried to raise two children without talking to them. He wanted to find out, if language is learned or given by nature. What happened was that these 2 children died because they had too little social attention.
So, giving everybody what he needs to survive sounds pretty good and simple at the beginning, but thinking this idea a little further, it can soon be getting very complicated regarding a whole society.
It is each individual's responsibility to provide the basic needs necessary to survive for themselves and those that depend on them. I believe justice is the man-made concept which attempts to account for the randomness of much of life by forcing the world into a state of equilibrium by defining a system of right and wrong in order to protect each person's individual rights. If one's individual rights are protected, one lives in a just society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michelles approach to seeing injustice from a different perspective. One that does not focus on what would make our lives easier but one that would enrich an individuals life while also aiding to the development of a better society as a whole. Her example of growing up with a lack of diversity is more than applicable to most of the students at Rhodes. This is in an unfortunate fact that will be difficult to see change due to the ways schools are structured currently. I wanted to discuss another issue that seems to cause several injustices. The lack of LGBT involvement and voice in primary education. Last year Dan Savage came to speak at Rhodes College following the bullying crisis that was brought to the forefront of news with the suicide of teen Billy Lucas. Savage then proceeded to create the It Get's Better project. A series of documentaries that are aimed at young adults in the LGBT community encouraging them through personal stories that life will get better. To bring this back to Michelles early blog, Savage spoke about the complete lack and often strict restriction of any LGBT education in primary schools. By ignoring the facts that the LGBT community and gay teens exist schools are shaping teenage minds psychologically that this lifestyle is wrong. They are also not providing adequete tools for these teens to live a now common lifestlye healthfully and happily. I believe that the lack of respect and recognition society gives to the the LGBT community only perpetuates injustices done on the youth of this group. Bullying and suicide seem like a complete violatoin of what we believe to be just and right.
ReplyDeleteMichelle has a very interesting position on justice. When reading about the basic needs of life and how obtaining those would be a form of justice, I began to think about humans in an evolutionary sense. Could a definition of justice be “survival of the fittest?” In order to obtain the limited amount of resources for survival is it just for an individual to go to all means possible to survive? Returning back to Michelle’s question, I thought about my greatest “injustice,” and according to her definition, my “injustice” seems almost petty when I compare it to the overarching picture of life: survival.
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