According To Aristotle: Three Schools Of Thought On Justice

Reaching True Justice According to Aristotle, justice is treating equals equally and unequals unequally while giving them what they are due. Throughout history, three general schools of thought on justice have arisen which are utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue-based ethics. Based on the concepts presented in these three schools of thought, deontology provides the best way to achieve the closest form of true justice. Utilitarianism in a general sense is the “greatest good for the greatest number.” The case for utilitarianism is most strongly presented by John Stuart Mill. In the utilitarian world, there is no such concept as the separateness of the people. When an issue is confronted in making policies or decisions, those who are …show more content…
Utilitarianism has a good teaching on achieving the good for many. However, utilitarianism doesn’t account for the fairness of the decision. In addition, how rights are infringe remains inconsistent because of different situations. Lastly, utilitarianism is flawed from the beginning. Who is to decide what the greatest good for the greatest number is. What the greatest good one day could be the worst case scenario in the future. Virtue based ethics, as mentioned are magnificent in the way that it requires people to know how to be virtuous, the only problem with the virtue based ethics is that morals can’t be weighed and that decisions made by a virtuous man may not always be the right decision. Deontology combines utilitarianism and virtue-based ethics into a concept that policy makers can use. The decisions are guided by universal morals that are understood everywhere. When policy makers have the mindset of doing the right thing, the results will follow it because what is just leads the just results and unjustness leads to unjust results. All this happens while achieving ultimately the truest possible justice for