Editing Justice (section)

==Natural law==
{{Main|Natural law}}
{{Expand section|date=October 2020}}
[[File:Iustitia van Heemskerck.png|thumb|''[[Justitia]]'' by [[Maarten van Heemskerk]], 1556. Justitia carries symbolic items such as: a sword, [[Weighing scale#Balance|scales]] and a blindfold.<ref>Cuban ''Law's Blindfold'', 23.</ref>]]
Many have claimed that justice is a part of natural law (e.g., John Locke).<ref>{{Cite book |year=1698 |title=Two Treatises of Government: In The Former the False Principles and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer and His Followers, are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter is An Essay Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government |edition=3 |publisher=Awnsham and John Churchill |publication-date=1698 |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7kwUAAAAQAAJ&q=editions%3Aq2cKQ3eYrMIC&pg=PP7 |access-date=20 November 2014 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

===Despotism and skepticism===
{{further|The Republic (Plato)}}
In ''Republic'' by Plato, the character [[Thrasymachus]] argues that justice is the interest of the strong – merely a name for what the powerful or cunning ruler has imposed on the people.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

===Mutual agreement===
{{Main|Social contract}}
Advocates of the social contract say that justice is derived from the mutual agreement of everyone; or, in many versions, from what they would agree to under ''hypothetical'' conditions including equality and absence of bias. This account is considered further below, under '[[Justice as Fairness]]'. The absence of bias refers to an equal ground for all people involved in a disagreement (or trial in some cases).{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

===Subordinate value===
According to utilitarian thinkers including [[John Stuart Mill]], justice is not as fundamental as we often think. Rather, it is derived from the more basic standard of rightness, [[consequentialism]]: what is right is what has the best consequences (usually measured by the total or average [[Quality of life|welfare]] caused).{{cn|date=February 2025}} So, the proper principles of justice are those that tend to have the best consequences. These rules may turn out to be familiar ones such as keeping contracts; but equally, they may not, depending on the facts about real consequences. Either way, what is important is those consequences, and justice is important, if at all, only as derived from that fundamental standard.{{cn|date=February 2025}} Mill tries to explain our mistaken belief that justice is overwhelmingly important by arguing that it derives from two natural human tendencies: our desire to retaliate against those who hurt us, or the feeling of self-defense and our ability to put ourselves imaginatively in another's place, sympathy. So, when we see someone harmed, we project ourselves into their situation and feel a desire to retaliate on their behalf. If this process is the source of our feelings about justice, that ought to undermine our confidence in them.<ref>John Stuart Mill, ''Utilitarianism'' in ''On Liberty and Other Essays'' ed. John Gray (Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]], 1991), Chapter 5.</ref>