What is Justice?: Classic and Contemporary Readings

Since the publication of John Rawls's monumental A Theory of Justice in 1971, justice has been increasingly prominent as a topic in social, political, and moral philosophy. Until now, however, no single collection has offered both classical sources and a concise overview of the current debate.

This uniquely comprehensive anthology presents a wide range of writings on the concept of justice, bringing together substantial excerpts from the most important historical and classical texts--Homer, Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, the Quran--and selections from other and more recent work--Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Engels, Rawls, Nozick, Walzer, Nagel. The book is exceptionally broad in scope, representing an extensive variety of different viewpoints, and including such major topics as the historical origins of justice, social contract theory, the right to private property, the notion of community, the problem of punishment, and the concept of fairness. The first anthology devoted solely to the idea of justice--its current definitions and historical antecedents--this book will help readers make sense of this complex and vastly important topic.