• 5.2: Justice Is Respect for Virtue

    • Modern and contemporary theories of justice, such as those of Mill, Kant, and Rawls, typically divorce the idea of justice from the idea of virtue, implying that what virtues individual people possess should not be a factor in deciding how to organize society. Aristotle, on the other hand, makes virtue the basis for his theory of justice. Distributive justice, in Aristotle's account, becomes a way of honoring people for their excellence of character.

    • Harvard University: Michael Sandel's "The Good Citizen" URL

      Watch this lecture until 27:01. Aristotle's notion of good personal ethics and virtue directly relates to his theory of the state. The state has a vested interest in the virtuous behavior of the citizens who live in it, so the state has the power to make paternalistic laws that will moderate people's behavior. The purpose of the human being is to lead a virtuous, flourishing life, and the state has an interest in rewarding the virtuous development of those in the state.