Aristotle's Justice: Teleological and Honorific
Who Deserves What? / Aristotle
Callie Smartt, a cheerleader with cerebral palsy, faced opposition regarding her qualifications, raising questions about fairness and the definition of the role.
To determine fairness in such roles, we must define the nature and purpose of the activity, considering what qualities are essential and worthy of honor.
Justice, Telos, and Honor
Aristotle's theory of justice includes:
Justice is teleological: Rights are defined by the telos (purpose, end) of the social practice.
Justice is honorific: Debates about the telos involve arguments about virtues to be honored and rewarded.
Aristotle believes justice means giving people what they deserve, based on merit relevant to what's being distributed.
Example with flutes: the best flutes should go to the best flute players because that’s what flutes are for—to be played well and to produce excellent music.
Teleological Thinking
Teleological reasoning determines just distribution by inquiring into the telos (purpose) of the good being distributed.
Example: Tennis courts allocation based on who best utilizes them, aligning with the purpose of the good.
What’s the Telos of a University?
The debate over affirmative action brings out the teleological aspect of justice.
Sorting out the telos of a university seems essential to determining the proper criteria of admission. This in turn reflects competing notions of the virtues the institution should honor and reward.
What’s the Purpose of Politics?
For Aristotle, distributive justice was mainly about offices and honors.
Aristotle reminds us that all theories of distributive justice discriminate. The question is: Which discriminations are just? And the answer depends on the purpose of the activity in question.
Aristotle believes the purpose of politics is to form good citizens and cultivate good character, enabling people to develop their distinctive human capacities and virtues.
Can You Be a Good Person If You Don’t Participate in Politics?
Aristotle suggests participating in politics is essential to living a good life because it allows us to fully realize our nature as human beings.
Language, a distinctly human capacity, isn’t just for registering pleasure and pain. It’s about declaring what is just and what is unjust, and distinguishing right from wrong.
“Moral virtue comes about as a result of habit.” We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.
Moral virtue requires judgment, a kind of knowledge Aristotle calls “practical wisdom.”
Aristotle’s Defense of Slavery
For Aristotle, justice is a matter of fit. To allocate rights is to look for the telos of social institutions, and to fit persons to the roles that suit them, the roles that enable them to realize their nature.
For slavery to be just, according to Aristotle, two conditions must be met: it must be necessary, and it must be natural.
Casey Martin’s Golf Cart
Debates about justice and rights are often, unavoidably, debates about the purpose of social institutions, the goods they allocate, and the virtues they honor and reward.
In order to decide whether Martin had a right to a golf cart, the Court had to determine the essential nature of the activity in question. Was walking the course essential to golf, or merely incidental?
Scalia misses altogether the honorific aspect of the dispute, which was less about fairness than about honor and recognition—specifically the desire of the PGA and top golfers that their sport be recognized and respected as an athletic event.