2021-11-06: Questions on Justice rak ================================================================ I have been wondering a lot about justice lately, and I have been examining and questioning my various beliefs about it. I always find it easier to think with an exobrain (be it pen/paper or typed notes), so I've been writing down my questions as they come to mind. In some cases, I am questioning what seems obvious. In other cases, I do not know the answer. In yet others, I am asking questions from a viewpoint with which I disagree. Justice ------- 1. What is justice? 2. What is the purpose of justice? 3. What are the effects /on others/ of being (un)just? 4. What are the effects /on yourself/ of being (un)just? 5. If justice entails treating people according to their just deserts, informally, this seems to mean treating people positively if they deserve it, negatively if they deserve it, etc. But what treatments does this encompass, concretely? All positive and negative treatments? How do you go from "deserts" to the appropriate treatment? 6. What does negative treatment (call it punishment) entail? Is it life-furthering or value protecting? And symmetrically for positive treatmenet? Are their effects purely psychological/motivational on the other person? 7. What about conflicts of interest? Can treating someone negatively harm innocent people? (For example, incarcerating a murderous father or firing a lazy parent.) 8. How does justice relate to other virtues or vices? 9. Why should one treat others as innocent until proven guilty? What about precautionary principles? Desert ------ 1. What is desert? 2. What does it mean to deserve something? 3. How do you determine what someone deserves? What is the relationship between judgment and desert? 4. Can inanimate objects deserve anything? Can animals? 5. Desert often involves some interpersonal relationship: people deserve different things depending on their role in your life. How do relationships factor into desert, explicitly? 6. What does it mean to treat someone as they deserve? Judgment -------- 1. What are different kinds of judgment? How are they related? 2. By what standards should one judge others? How do these standards vary depending on the context? How do you determine the standards? What does it mean to have an objective standard? An objective moral standard? A subjective standard? 3. In particular, how does your pre-existing relationship with someone affect the standard you use to evaluate them and their actions or factor into your judgment? 4. How do you weigh a person's actions against their professed beliefs? Is one more imoprtant than the other? Do a person's beliefs matter if they do not act on them? 5. What is the role of volition in judgment? Both in the act of forming it, and as a factor in forming a judgment. Can you judge someone positively or negatively for factors outside of their control? (What could "factors outside of their control" mean?) 6. How do you weigh a person's mental health issues when judging them? Are they mitigating factors? 7. If justice involves judging people so that you can treat them justly (i.e., according to their just deserts), how promptly must you form a judgment of someone after they have hurt you? If the thought of someone or of their actions is too painful to contemplate, is it appropriate to postpone judgment until one can fairly evaluate the person or their actions? If so, how should one treat the person meanwhile? Character --------- 1. What is a person's character? 2. Is character logically consistent with free will? Couldn't someone just change their characteristic mode of behaviour on a whim? 3. Could you judge the character of someone who (hypothetically) does not have free will? Would you need to judge such a person? 4. Is the concept of character logically or conceptually dependent on free will? 5. How do you determine someone's character? 6. How do you reconcile conflicting character traits? 7. How do you do the circumstances or context of a person's actions inform your determination of their character? Forgiveness ----------- 1. What is forgiveness? What does it mean, concretely? 2. When is appropriate? 3. Is it ever required? 4. People informally talk about "deserving" or "not deserving" to be forgiven. What does this mean, concretely? How do you "deserve" to be forgiven? 5. Is forgiveness earned? What does it mean to "earn" forgiveness? How do you determine if it is earned or appropriate? 6. Is reformation or restitution a precondition? If so, what counts?