The Concept of Justice, Harmony, and Virtue
The concept of justice, harmony, and virtue is a concept used in society to explain how the three aspects of societal existence are applicable in the lives of people. The term concept indicates that it is a clearly thought-out idea that has been determined to be able to generate some positive result. To be able to understand the three concepts, it is important to pay attention to all the aspects that the concepts affect both in the sense of individualized level as well on the societal level. Applying the different kinds of governances where there should be maintained justice is essential to all people whereas the peace is not compromised. More so, the virtues of the persons concerned are not questionable. These three aspects have a great impact on individual morality and therefore, the essay will focus on the effectiveness of justice, harmony, and virtue in a community.
To begin with, the concept of justice can be explainable in the sense of a formal of static justice. Formal justice entails all the common rights and it can be considered abstract from all the finite as well as the normative criteria of common justice known to many people (Gheaus 450). Therefore, it also includes the abstract ideas gathered over generations. Consequently, all the normative information as well as criteria and procedures used in the course of justice include both the ideal as well as real life aspects. Furthermore, the definition that is given to formal justice makes it appear as more theoretical, while ignoring the procedural and the real life concept where justice implies an application of the set theoretical standards. Therefore, justice should be understood to be more than just the formalized discourse of delivery of justice. Justice is proper share or mutual obligation. It can be measured by correct human feelings. However, it should include even the informal aspects where there are more or no procedures followed. It means that it becomes more than just a written down direction that is to be followed, and it ends up being an actual real life-impacting process where the affected parties can feel the impact of the whole process (Gheaus 459)
The best idea of justice is also the one where all the affected parties are involved in the process of dispensing justice. Justice that is purportedly provided without a fair representation of the parties affected is automatically skewed, and it is more often likely to be unequally fair to the parties that are supposedly offered the justice (Gheaus 460). Such a scenario is often experienced when a fair hearing is not offered to the parties affected. It is imperative that in such cases, some will be favored while the others will suffer from bias. In such an instance, the affected individuals enjoy equal chances in the face of justice, hence allowing their equal hearing.
The modern concept of justice, which has been greatly formalized, entails a modernization that applies to the process of justification. This emerging concept has involved significant rationalization of the legal powers. Therefore, the rationalized justice has caused a revolution and awakening in the human rights activists (Gears 456). The justice of the human being depends entirely on how rational an idea is. If whatever a person does is rational and is logical enough, then it is worth noting that such an instance would undergo some different sort of legal scrutiny considering how rational and logical the whole idea is.
Formal justice also considers that certain norms apply to a certain cluster of people, and anyone within that group is affected by the rules directly. The rules and norms affect not only the actions but also the speech of individuals within the jurisdiction (Gheaus 464). Therefore, the persons who find themselves in such a cluster are compelled to work within the confines of that rule. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that in such cases, there are possibilities of inconsistencies that come from people within the same cluster judging others for mistakes they have committed. Alternatively, they end up being too severe in judging themselves while giving leniency to others. It could lead to injustice to others or oneself respectively.
Alongside justice, harmony is also applied in society. Using harmony in an economy promotes the progress of production and affluence. In politics, the past developments can be promoted as well as a flourishing culture for the benefit of the community (Bell 143). Therefore, harmony is both an older social model as well an actual select. It opens up a wider world for upcoming humankind and offers humanity an unlimited driving force for its improvement. It is an optimization of differences and a balance of life interests, opinions, and social roles. As a kind of hypothetical invention, harmony should be a speculative foundation for people to extend further modification, encourage growth, and build a harmonious communist culture. Plato had identified that the application of justice in society eventually led to a situation where an individual developed to become both self-conscious as well as self-consistent in equal measures (Lodge 103). It allowed a person to be in the harmony with oneself. In such a case, it was possible to have a society that was harmoniously good in its internal structure (Bell 144).
For the harmony to actualize, there were developments of some other concepts. Among them is the harmony concept identified as where all the specific elements in a sphere to have a connection influenced by love and that is met at a conjunction with all the relative aspects of that society. It implies that in the state of harmony, there should be no conflict of all aspects of a given society, or individuals should be able to interact with one another non-grudgingly (Bell 145). Therefore, in a society where there is an expectation of differences in personalities and characters, the traits and characters should converge at a common point and without conflict. However, it is important that such an instance should try not to compromise the justice of the various components of society.
The other concept of harmony is identifiable through the Pythagorean ontology that acknowledges harmony according to limits and limitedness (Bell 145). It is where the proportions of the limits as well as the demerits that accompany a situation were checked. For harmony to be attained, there must have been agreement among the parties (Bell 146). Accordingly, when considered in the social circles, harmony can be considered in its ethical aspect as well as its epistemological one. The concept of ethical harmony can be linked to social justices just like archaism could.
The other concept of harmony to be reviewed entails an individual’s harmony. It is important to consider how harmonious the body, soul, and spirit can be and conversely, the conflict they could end up in. Findings show that souls are a harmony as they integrate matters of varied respects (Bell 143). People believe that it is possible to have matters bound together in harmony, hence ensuring there is harmony in the universe. Similarly, ideas, and thoughts are believed to be brought together by harmony into accomplishing a common goal.
Noteworthy, in the Pythagorean era, harmony played a major role in ensuring that ideas were consolidated and mathematical theories developed. Similarly, harmony applies in the societal and historical aspects of ensuring that society with justice maintains harmony and love. It builds up the idea of having a society where justice prevails, while at the same time, society remains peaceful and full of love (Bell 145).
The virtues of society can also be considered, as there are some ideas that are entailed in the virtues that society should observe. They are moral habits that enable one to gain and maintain one's values (Zovko 264). Virtues are not self-sacrifice but social obligation, for instance, virtue of family responsibility. They lead to a more prosperous life. Virtues are not principles, and thus, they cannot be followed thoughtlessly. They only apply to a given setting in which they are made. In case one is not sure how a virtue applies in a specific instance, one needs to fall back to the eventual standard of value, one’s life to guide his or her actions. Key values among them are peace and harmony as well as justice. These are considered virtues as they are positive values that can be reflected in equal measure by any person. As Machiavelli indicated in his works, the concept of virtue is essential (Zovko 268). The whole concept has a wider perspective from what it can be easily defined. It is indicated in one instance that virtue is a philosophy. In this sense, it is used to explain that it is a school of thought or a line of thought that can be implemented. It means that one develops a line of thought that, when measured against some parameters, can allow one to live a virtuous life. In such an instance, it may refer to the ability to live with one well or the ability to offer hospitality. It is also accompanied by peaceful coexistence.
In other conceptualized lines of thought, virtue is considered a skill that can be developed and grown. Thus, if one works on his character over time, at one point, they can exhibit a virtuous life, and in that case, it can be considered a skill that can be grown (Zovko 288). Therefore, it is more possible to develop a virtuous character through observation of role models than acting according to a set of the norms.
There is a moral sense of virtue, which can best be demonstrated by Plato who has kept off crime (Lodge 156). Therefore, the moral concept of virtue entails a situation where the involved parties keep themselves from any wrongdoing (Zovko 296). Such a person is often considered to have a clean character and considered as a model and trustable individual. It is clear that any wrongdoing such as killing innocent people, betrayal to friends, or being merciless means that a person is less virtuous. All these findings indicate that such things can help one acquire wealth or power but one eventually lacks the blessings of being able to make one virtuous. The benefit of virtue, in this case, is one being able to acquire glory and avoid disgrace. Therefore, virtue is considered an excellent gift to have (Zovko 299).
To sum it up, justice and virtue have to be put to play together. It means that their applications have to go hand in hand. Justice is human virtue that makes an individual self-consistent and good. In the social context, justice is a societal consciousness that makes a community internally harmonious. If there were the lack of virtue in a provision of justice, then that would only lead to getting a reward from it, yet still miss out on the glory of God. They are not merely, but also moral principles.
