M. Ossowska’s views on concepts of morality and the notion of justice

Abstract

Most studies of justice mention two basic concepts of justice. The broader one defines justice as a culmination of all the virtues – justice is identified with moral perfection. To this concept they oppose the narrower concept which describes justice as the rendering to each man of his due (according to the principle suum cuique which literally means „to each his own”). The distinction is usually treated as a result of simple historical transformation: a broader concept of justice is perceived as outdated, too broad, and above all – as a concept which is completely different from the second one, contemporary understanding of justice. Considering three strands of morality understanding distinguished by Maria Ossowska allow us to formulate better, more insightful evaluation of the distinction above. We realize that considering things from the solidarity point of view, which is most popular these days, we tend to limit the extent of justice for benefits in relation to other people. Hence frequent conclusions that formula suum cuique does not include the understanding of justice as ethical perfection. If solidarity concerning strand of morality did not limit our perception, we would consider as just even such features as moderation, fortitude, piety. Actions motivated by these virtues would be treated as rendering something to person himself or to God and they could be evaluated from the point of view of the formula „to each his own” too.