2021-11-06: Questions on Justice                             rak
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I have been wondering a lot about justice lately, and I have
been examining and questioning my various beliefs about it. I
always find it easier to think with an exobrain (be it pen/paper
or typed notes), so I've been writing down my questions as they
come to mind. In some cases, I am questioning what seems obvious.
In other cases, I do not know the answer. In yet others, I am
asking questions from a viewpoint with which I disagree.

Justice
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1. What is justice?
2. What is the purpose of justice?
3. What are the effects /on others/ of being (un)just?
4. What are the effects /on yourself/ of being (un)just?
5. If justice entails treating people according to their just
  deserts, informally, this seems to mean treating people
  positively if they deserve it, negatively if they deserve it,
  etc. But what treatments does this encompass, concretely? All
  positive and negative treatments? How do you go from
  "deserts" to the appropriate treatment?
6. What does negative treatment (call it punishment) entail? Is
  it life-furthering or value protecting? And symmetrically for
  positive treatmenet? Are their effects purely
  psychological/motivational on the other person?
7. What about conflicts of interest? Can treating someone
  negatively harm innocent people? (For example, incarcerating
  a murderous father or firing a lazy parent.)
8. How does justice relate to other virtues or vices?
9. Why should one treat others as innocent until proven guilty? What
  about precautionary principles?

Desert
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1. What is desert?
2. What does it mean to deserve something?
3. How do you determine what someone deserves? What is the
  relationship between judgment and desert?
4. Can inanimate objects deserve anything? Can animals?
5. Desert often involves some interpersonal relationship: people
  deserve different things depending on their role in your
  life. How do relationships factor into desert, explicitly?
6. What does it mean to treat someone as they deserve?

Judgment
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1. What are different kinds of judgment? How are they related?
2. By what standards should one judge others? How do these
  standards vary depending on the context? How do you determine
  the standards? What does it mean to have an objective
  standard? An objective moral standard? A subjective standard?
3. In particular, how does your pre-existing relationship with
  someone affect the standard you use to evaluate them and
  their actions or factor into your judgment?
4. How do you weigh a person's actions against their professed
  beliefs? Is one more imoprtant than the other? Do a person's
  beliefs matter if they do not act on them?
5. What is the role of volition in judgment? Both in the act of
  forming it, and as a factor in forming a judgment. Can you
  judge someone positively or negatively for factors outside of
  their control? (What could "factors outside of their control"
  mean?)
6. How do you weigh a person's mental health issues when judging
  them? Are they mitigating factors?
7. If justice involves judging people so that you can treat them
  justly (i.e., according to their just deserts), how promptly
  must you form a judgment of someone after they have hurt you?
  If the thought of someone or of their actions is too painful
  to contemplate, is it appropriate to postpone judgment until
  one can fairly evaluate the person or their actions? If so,
  how should one treat the person meanwhile?

Character
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1. What is a person's character?
2. Is character logically consistent with free will? Couldn't
  someone just change their characteristic mode of behaviour on
  a whim?
3. Could you judge the character of someone who (hypothetically)
  does not have free will? Would you need to judge such a
  person?
4. Is the concept of character logically or conceptually
  dependent on free will?
5. How do you determine someone's character?
6. How do you reconcile conflicting character traits?
7. How do you do the circumstances or context of a person's
  actions inform your determination of their character?

Forgiveness
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1. What is forgiveness? What does it mean, concretely?
2. When is appropriate?
3. Is it ever required?
4. People informally talk about "deserving" or "not deserving"
  to be forgiven. What does this mean, concretely? How do you
  "deserve" to be forgiven?
5. Is forgiveness earned? What does it mean to "earn"
  forgiveness? How do you determine if it is earned or
  appropriate?
6. Is reformation or restitution a precondition? If so, what
  counts?

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