What Is Justice?: Crash Course Philosophy #40

In today’s episode, Hank asks you to consider all the ways people talk about justice and what we really mean when we use that word. We’ll explain various theories of justice, just distribution, and different approaches to punishment.

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[JC]

MY NOTES ON THE VIDEO (In case anyone needs notes FAST)
JUSTICE [CRASH COURSE]
JUSTICE
[Greek] – Justice as Harmony
- A just society is one in w/c everyone fulfills their roles so that society runs smoothly.
- Violating your place in the social order—even if it’s a place you don’t want to hold—is considered unjust.

[Utilitarian] – justice tries to increase the overall quality of life for citizens.

[Politicall Libertarian] – allows its citizens to be maximumly free

DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE
Justice as Equality – The belief that everyone should get the same kind and amount of stuff.
Need-Based Justice – everyone shouldn’t get the same, cuz our needs aren’t the same.
Merit-based Justice – means giving unequally, based on what each person deserves.

JOHN RAWLS – “justice is fairness”
- Any inequalities that exist in a social system should favor the least well-off, cuz this levels the playing field of society. (form of need-based justice)
- Some argue that justice-is-fairness is actually unfair to those who have gotten the most either via hardwork / cuz they happened to win life’s natural lottery.

ROBERT NOZICK – disagreed with rawls
- “we’re each entitled to the stuff we have provided we didn’t steal it / otherwise obtain it unjustly.

Retributive Justice – the only way for justice to be satisfied is for a wrongdoer to suffer in proportion to the way he’s made others suffer.
*kinda like Corrective Justice

Welfare Maximizaton – there’s no good to be found vindictively causing pain to wrongdoers. But some form of punishment is still in order.

Restorative Justice – the focus is on making amends rather than on making the wrongdoer suffer

[jeromefournier]

The trouble I have with a lot of people when they talk about Justice is
1) They don't seem to differentiate between Law and Justice
2) They don't get that Justice like its siblings Ethics and Aesthetics is full of individual cases and relativity.
Some groups of people will push for restorative or rehabilitative approaches in all cases, but some people are beyond help.
Others will push for punitive or deterrence ideals "For a safe society" but not understand that in some cases this will only help further push people into criminality.

But on top of that is the trouble that systems of laws are not very good and differentiating, on the one side you can make laws broader and less defined to allow for individual cases, but that put more responsibility and power in the hands of judges, juries and lawyers. You can makes laws more precise and restrictive to reduce the interpretive power of the legal system but then you lose almost all of the ability to arbitrate on a case by case basis.

[Jotari]

In Germany it's not considered illegal to escape from prison because humans have the basic instinct to desire freedom.

[Master_Therion]

I demand I went to the store today to buy some chom choms and the employee said they were called bananas.

[yaumelepire]

I think wrongdoers should be rehabilitated because, like that, they can become once again productive members of society and, henceforth, work to better the lives of others and their own. Killing them serves no purpose at all; making sure that they change for good makes society more productive and better for everyone.

[antoniorodriguez]

I think Rawls deserved more time on this video, and an explanation of the veil of ignorance

[poorplayer]

I've read through the comments sections on a bunch of videos from this channel, SciShow, and a few other unrelated science/humanities channels, and I've noticed that even when posters disagree in venues like the above, e.g., informative videos without a stated bias, the general tone rarely if ever devolves into puerile name calling and insults. That is so very refreshing compared to other channels that concentrate on sociopolitical topics. Huge mohunkin' props to the Crash Course team and their commitment to an atmosphere of open minded learning and discourse. Thanks you guys!

[danielmathews]

I have watched plenty of CrashCourse and I can honestly say that, in my humble opinion, this is the best video made so far. Bringing clarity to a subject matter so desperately required for society today. Bravo!

[mavortius]

My rejection of retributive justice is why I rejected the idea of everlasting punishment. It doesn't reliably deter other people from particular behaviors, and it doesn't rehabilitate, so what could it possibly be good for?

[jimslickens]

"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" was actually meant to say that the degree of punishment should not exceed the degree of wrongdoing.

[Haveawildguess]

I love Hank. I love all the subjects you've covered, and watched most of the videos. I hope you will make more on Philosophy and/or neuroscience.

[TheMasonX]

I believe in a combination of rehabilitation and restoration, as helping criminals get their life together both greatly reduces recidivism (education especially is proven to cut down on "repeat offenders") and often results in them returning as productive members of society. Apart from philosophical reasons, this also reduces the overall cost of our struggling criminal justice system.

And giving them and their victims a chance at making things better only makes sense. Also, deterrence is a flawed mindset, as it relies on the idea that people committing crimes rationally weigh the risks/rewards, which is very rarely the case.

[TuesdaysArt]

What I learned from this video is why Wilt from Foster's Home of Imaginary Friends is named Wilt

[GregTom]

So then is batman the hero Gotham deserves, or the hero Gotham needs?

[kaerblover]

"Everyone talks about justice, but before you can, you really have to decide what it means." ~Crash Course #40

[elephantwarrior]

I'd say Distributive Justice should be need based for essentials (healthcare, food, water, housing, cloths) and merit based for everything else (fancy clothes, unnecessary amounts of food, larger house, toys).

[brandonhall]

Wow. That 10 minutes went by fast. This is why I love CrashCourse!

[Fealox]

Thank you so much for putting out these videos!!! I really wish I had these videos to get a clear overall understanding of the topics I covered so many years ago in my philosophy and ethics classes.

[jujube]

Hello CrashCourse makers and Hank, I assume that this is impossible, but it would be a dream for this course to continue indefinitely. I really enjoy it and look forward to every new episode. It's almost like a crash course on everything, because everything we do, be it physics or poetry, is viewed through the lens of human thought.
Anyway, just my way of saying I love crash course, thank you all so much for making it.

[talishabland]

This guy is actually really pleasant to listen to for an educational video, I liked it.