Giving each person his due
Topic: Equality and Social Justice · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 4 "Social Justice"
Meaning
This is one of the oldest ideas of justice: every person should get what is owed to them. The idea has stayed, but what counts as "due" has changed. After the German thinker Immanuel Kant, every human being is seen as having dignity, which means value as a person. So what each person is owed is the chance to develop their talents and pursue the goals they choose. The Roman lawyers and Mill put the idea in similar words. Mill said justice is what a person can claim from us as a moral right.
Example
A child born into a poor family is "due" a decent school, so that their talents can grow. Laws such as the RTE Act 2009 reflect this modern reading of "due".
Don't confuse with
- Proportionate justice: this asks that rewards match effort and skill. "Giving each his due" is the wider idea, and proportionate justice is one way of working it out.
Related concepts
- Justice
- Dharma as justice
- Confucian idea of justice
- Glaucon's view of justice
- Plato's theory of justice