Justice In Cicero's On Obligations

What is Justice? In Cicero’s book On Obligations, he states that “the primary function of justice is to ensure that no one harms his neighbour unless he has himself been unjustly attacked. Its second concern is that communal property should serve communal interests and that private property private interests,” (9). Using this definition of justice, he is able to relate things that are honorable to things that are useful, which helps him as he writes to his son about what a man is obligated to do in order to be a good citizen. He defines this obligation in two levels as “the highest aim among goods,” (Cicero 5) and “the moral guidance which can shape our daily lives in all their aspects.” (Cicero 5) The issue he comes up with is that when deciding what one is obliged to do, they must decide between doing the honorable or the useful thing. He continues to describe that justice is one of the four “cardinal” virtues that “kindle and fashion the honourable conduct which we seek.” (Cicero 7) He also later goes on to state that anything a man does that is good will be useful to him, and that to do something good, a man must live with justice. He …show more content…
Michael Willoughby Small said that justice is “concerned with ‘the conservation of organized society, and rendering to every man his due’… In simpler terms, justice promoted and strengthened society,” (343). It can also be said that it is part of our human nature to help the community around us. Michael S. Aßländer said that “as men are born for the sake of men, the just and honorable man will strive for the common good, treat human beings with respect and keep faith with his fellow citizen,” (755). By this, he means that providing for one’s community is part of the very nature that makes a person a human being. Therefore, for something to be just, it must not harm the community, for by benefitting the community, it follows human nature and is