Rambling through the fields of justice in search of well-being for all

Abstract

The article looks at basic questions of what constitutes a justice that takes into account the needs of all people. Thus an attempt is made to outline some of the basic tenets of a needs-based justice.

Keywords:

• needs-based justice
• anarchism
• cardinal virtues
• justice and power
• needs-based family

Acknowledgements

Especial thanks to Georgia Gray, Peter Sanzen, and Kathryn Sullivan for their readings of drafts of this essay

Notes

1. See Yazzie (Summer 1998), from a speech (1997).

2. In speaking about the reward production system that makes children (and adults) winners, educator Alfie Kohn says that ‘rewards’ foster temporary compliance, produce kids who are less generous with their peers, cause children to lose interest in whatever they were rewarded for doing, and have a negative effect on enjoyment, among other consequences (see Kohn, 1994). R.M. Ryan and E.L. Deci describe the use of rewards and their accompanying prestige insignia as simply another form of control, only ‘control through seduction’ which reduces student interest in working with their peers and ultimately negatively affects their relationship with the adults offering the rewards (see Ryan & Deci, 1985, 2000). For other work by Kohn relevant to prestige and rewards. See Kohn (1990a, 1990b).

3. For the foolish thinking that there are scarce resources such as energy, see Frazier (2003). Relying on Fuller (1969), Frazier says with respect to the supposed scarcity of energy ‘The fact, however, is that there has always been thousands of times more available energy than humankind uses on earth’s surface, just in the sunlight, heat, wind, tides and the like, that energy scarcity can seem a ludicrous idea.’

4. See Gil (2002).

5. In schools there are exceptions of course. John Sullivan who served as principal of the ‘full inclusion’ Spruce Run School, Clinton Township, New Jersey addressed matters of justice with his teachers as well as his ‘charges’ from P-K to Grade 2. For Sullivan’s (1998, 2001b) views on the nature and distribution of work in the classroom. For enlightening research on instances and the consequences of bullying in the workplace (see Tracy, Alberts, & Dyanne Rivera, 2007; Tracy, Lutgen-Sandvik, & Alberts, 2006). And with respect to the relationship between bullying in the home and school, it appears that aggressive behavior in the family leads to similar patterns of behavior in the school (and vice versa); see Duncan (1999).

6. For an examination of the political economy of the enjoyment of life and the social conditions that foster or impede its achievement see Chapter XV ‘Filthy Llucre’ in Brown (1959).

7. When we look at the public school system in the State of Florida, for example, we see a curriculum called Justice Teaching but the content of the course is limited to the criminal justice system. The program’s website says, ‘State and national surveys frequently suggest that Americans in general know little about the operation of the American justice system, and they do not understand the basic principles underlying our constitutional institutions and structures. With this in mind, in 2006 a major effort was galvanized to further law-related education in the State of Florida. The name of the effort is Justice Teaching, an initiative of then Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis. The ultimate goal of this program is to pair a legal professional with every elementary, middle, and high school in the state of Florida. The program aims to benefit students in the following ways: promote an understanding of Florida’s justice system and our laws, develop critical thinking abilities and problem solving skills, and demonstrate the effective interaction of our courts within the constitutional structure.’ See http://www.justiceteaching.org/. This course in effect starts off kids at an early age in becoming majors in criminal justice.

8. For the ill-effects of vengeance on self and others see Socarides (1966).

9. See Goodman (2010). The essays were originally published between 1962 and 1972 but reflect Goodman’s anarchist thinking over several decades (Bookchin, 1977, p. 307) says structural change ‘will always remain incomplete and one-sided until it recognizes the need to remove all hierarchical modes of thought, indeed all conceptions of “otherness” based on domination, from its own midst.’ In other words, dissolving power.

10. See, e.g. Gil (1999).

11. See Ellsberg (1983, p. 295).

12. See Coles (1997) as well as Coles (1993) and Sullivan (1982).

13. See Borba (2001).

14. Interestingly the late great writer David Foster Wallace, in giving the commencement address to the students at Kenyon College in 2005, spoke of the importance of virtues by denying he was speaking about them – so Wallace! He told the graduates, ‘Please don’t worry that I’m getting ready to lecture you about compassion or other-directedness or all the so-called virtues. This is not a matter of virtue. It’s a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default setting which is to be deeply and literally self-centered and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self. People who can adjust their natural default setting this way are often described as being “well-adjusted”, which I suggest to you is not an accidental term.’ For the speech see http://publicnoises.blogspot.com/2009/05/david-foster-wallace-kenyon.html.

15. See Buber (1958).

16. For a photo of the tomb with the four virtues, see http://gallery.biorust.com/showimage.php?i=13667&catid=member&imageuser=22224.

17. Lightbown (1980, pp. 25–27) says the tombs of ecclesiastics were bedecked with statues representing the theological virtues.

18. It might be worth pointing out that Justice is often represented as blindfolded and carrying a sword. But the early Greek goddess of Justice, Themis, was not blindfolded nor did she carry a sword. See http://www.fjkluth.com/themis.html. Burnett (1987) says that classical representations of Themis do not show her blindfolded because she possessed the talent of prophecy, and she needed no sword ‘because she represented common consent, rather than coercion.’ Her bailiwick extended not only to the affairs of the gods but also to the conflicts and concerns of human beings. For images of Themis over time see the small online entry prepared by Barbara Swatt, Gallagher Law Library reference intern at University of Washington School of Law and updated by Cheryl Nyberg; http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/themis.html.

19. See Bennett (1995). For an analysis of Bennett’s treatment of virtues, see Tifft, Sullivan, and Sullivan (2008). For a discussion of the importance of virtues in children’s lives, see as well Collins, Cooper, and Healey (2010).

20. For a fairly in-depth analysis of the cardinal virtues see Pieper (1966). but his view of justice is highly limited when it comes to understanding its relationships to human needs. Much more interesting is Houser (2004). Houser does an excellent job of tracing the genealogy of the virtues from the Sophists (fifth century BC), through Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Cicero, Seneca, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory, Peter Lombard, Philip the Chancellor, Albert the Great, to Thomas Aquinas; pp. 6–82.

21. See Plato, Republic, Book 4, 427e–435b; Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 2.7, 3, 6-5, 11; Cicero, De Inventione, II, LIII; St. Ambrose, Commentary on Luke, V, 62; St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Sentences (1252–1256), Summa of Theology, 1–2 (1268–1271, and Disputed Question on the Cardinal Virtues (1271–1273); see also and Hutchinson (1986).

22. Cicero (1913, p. 28); see also Ibid., I, 153 ff. Even the presumably doctrinally–conservative Knights of Columbus Catholic Truth Committee’s Catholic Enclyclopedia regards Justice as the most important of the cardinal virtues; see Herbermann, Pace, Pallen, Shahan, and Wynne (1910, p. 571).

23. To see how Kelly responded to the needs of people faced with the threatening conditions of war, see, e.g. Kelly (2005).

24. See Blok and Lardinois (2006).

25. For a discussion of Urukagina’s laws or commands, see the fine piece of work by Childe (1948). See as well ‘The Reforms of Urukagina’ in Bailkey (1992, p. 21).

26. For a list of the regulations that promoted justice, see http://history-world.org/reforms_of_urukagina.htm. For the protection of the widow, orphan, and poor specifically, see Fensham (1962).

27. Cited in Bailkey (1967).

28. Chomsky offers a myriad of examples of the relationship between injustices and power but an especially interesting reference to this matter can be found in his famous debate with Foucault (1971).

29. This is what Ursula LeGuin was getting at in her depiction of dissatisfaction in the fully needs-meeting anarchist society of Anarres in her political economic novel The Dispossessed. See LeGuin (1974).

30. See Frazer (1905, p. 73).

31. See Hunger Notes http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm#What_are_the_causes_of_hunger.

32. Hunger notes (2011), see also Black, Morris, and Bryce (2003) and Bryce, Boschi-Pinto, Shibuya, and Black (2005).

33. See Maslow’s (1943) views.

34. See Atkinson (1982).

35. See Stevens (1965). For the importance of the imagination for the practice of justice see also Sullivan (1986–1987).

36. For our collaborative works see Tifft and Sullivan (1980, 2001, 2005), Tifft, Sullivan, and Sullivan (1997), Sullivan and Tifft (1998a, 1998b, 1998c, 2000a, 2000b, 2004, 2005a, 2005b), and Sullivan, Tifft, and Cordella (1998a, 1998b).

37. This is what Marge Piercy tried to achieve in her depiction of a society in which the needs of all were met in Woman On The Edge of Time. See Piercy (1976).

38. See Miller (1976), Braybrooke (1987) and Tawney (1952).

39. The great anarchist philosopher and activist Kropotkin (1927) in a section called ‘Our Riches’ says that every thing we as a race have produced is the results of the efforts of millions and therefore it is an injustice that the powerful move in and take over ‘the goods’ and ‘services’ as their own, charging the rest of us for what belongs to all. PK says, ‘Millions of human beings have laboured to create civilization on which we pride ourselves to-day. Other millions, scattered throughout the globe, labour to maintain it. Without them nothing would be left in fifty years but ruins.’ He goes on to say that, ‘there is not even a thought, or an invention, which is not common property, born of the past and the present. Thousands of inventors, known and unknown, who have died in poverty, have co-operated in the invention of each of these machines which embody the genius of man’ (5). Thus, ‘if the descendants of the very inventor who constructed the first machine for lace-making, a century ago, were to present themselves to-day in a lace factory at Bâle or Nottingham, and demand their rights, they would be told: “Hands off! this machine is not yours,” and they would be shot down if they attempted to take possession of it’ (7). The reason for this is that, ‘Enterprise takes no thought for the needs of the community. Its only aim is to increase the gains of the speculator’ (8–9). The correct conclusion to be drawn from this state of affairs is, ‘Individual appropriation is neither just nor serviceable. All belongs to all. All things are for all men, since all men have need of them, since all men have worked in the measure of their strength to produce them, and since it is not possible to evaluate every one’s part in the production of the world’s wealth’ (10).

40. For a needs-based perspective on the American correctional system see Sullivan (2001a).

41. See Baumeister, Stillwell, and Wotman (1990), Dyck (2000), and Mika (1989).

42. See Fred Boehrer’s insightful comments about incorporating restorative justice principles in daily life, in effect living through needs-based principles of justice in our families, schools, and places of work in Sullivan (1998).

43. In Cage (1988, p. ix), the late great contemporary composer John Cage speaks of the importance of liberty as a necessary condition ‘under which intelligence, dignity, and the happiness of men can develop and grow; not that purely formal liberty, conceded, measured, and regulated by the State, an eternal life and which in reality never represents anything but the privilege of the few founded on the slavery of everyone, … I mean the only liberty truly worthy of the name, liberty that consists in the full development of all the powers – material, intellectual, and moral – that are latent faculties of each; liberty that recognizes no other restrictions than those outlined for us by the laws of our own individual nature, so that properly speaking, there are no restrictions … I mean that liberty of each individual which, far from halting as at a boundary before the liberty of others, finds there its confirmation and its extension to infinity; the illimitable liberty of each through the liberty of all, liberty by solidarity, liberty in equality; liberty triumphing over brute force and the principle of authority that was never anything but the force; liberty which, after having overthrown all heavenly and earthly idols, will found and organize a new world, that of human solidarity, on the ruins of all Churches and all States.’