The Concept of Justice A Philosophical Analysis : Reference to Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, Marx and Engels

It is human being in the animal kingdom who is bestowed with intellect and conscience. How far we make use of this conscience? What makes a person act legally and ethically right? When riches please the individual what makes a person to be moderate and righteous in action? Is it legal rule or moral conscience that conducts human behaviour? What is the role of the state in the areas of distribution of honours and goods? These and many more fundamental questions are debated in the classical theories of justice by Plato and Aristotle and in the contemporary thinking of Hegel and Marx and Engels. A study on justice, speaks of mainly two things: quest for rights and restoration of justice; while quest for rights helps to evolve well defined states, restoration of justice impels well performed duties by people. The present book exposes the theories of justice analyzed by Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, Marx and Engels and examines the analogy involved in their theories. In the modern world it became a fashion to use the analytical tools only to boast of one's skills on rhetoric. But we have also entered a progressive world where we are forced to be logical, rational and lawful only when all these skills are denominated by ethical values; rather human values. From Socrates to Marx we only find it is their humane perception of the society to stand long; lest, they predicted an evitable revolution from the middle class. It is man and his actions that are responsible for the downfall of a democratic state. Words of Marx carry a pervasive value: "assume man to be man and his relationship to the world to be a human one; then you can exchange love only for love, trust for trust..." This is the crux of the theory of justice and political state and of the imperative need for restoration of justice by individuals and institutions.