Aristotle - Nicomachean ethics

Week 1.2

What is the summary of book 5

Makes the distinction between 2 different types of justice: Distributive and Rectificatory

What is distributive justice

Unequal people, unequal share

‘What is just is what is equal therefore what is unjust is unequal’

What is equal is a mean/average

We Judge the people in relationship to the things that we give/they take

If A:B = C:D then A:C = B:D so the ratio stays right. A and B are the people involved and C and D are the outcomes for each person - As what is just is a mean, what is unjust violates the proportion

What is rectificatory justice

Equal people, correction of undue gains

Soley cares about rectifying wrongs when someone has been treated unfairly

Found in both voluntary and involuntary transactions

Uses arithmetical proportion not geometric like distributive justice

It does matter if if it is a good person who has defrauded a bad person or vise versa, law only looks at difference made by the injury (All are treated as equals)

What is the role of the Judge?

Equalises any kind of injustice with some sort of penalty

Loss and Gain

Just is a mean between loss and gain

There is an equal amount before and after the transaction