Justice

===Introduction===
{{further|Justice (virtue)|Cardinal virtues}}
[[File:Bonino da Campione, Justice, c. 1357, NGA 46013.jpg|thumb|Bonino da Campione, ''Justice'', {{circa|1357}}, [[National Gallery of Art]]]]It has been said<ref>See, e.g., Eric Heinze, ''The Concept of Injustice'' (Routledge, 2013), pp. 4–10, 50–60.</ref> that 'systematic' or 'programmatic' political and moral philosophy in the West begins, in [[Plato]]'s [[Plato Republic|Republic]], with the question, 'What is Justice?'<ref>Plato, ''The Republic'', Book I, 331b–c.</ref> According to most contemporary theories of justice, justice is overwhelmingly important: [[John Rawls]] claims that "Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought."<ref>John Rawls, ''A Theory of Justice'' (revised edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 3</ref> In classical approaches, evident from [[Plato]] through to [[John Rawls|Rawls]], the concept of 'justice' is always construed in logical or 'etymological' opposition to the concept of injustice. Such approaches cite various examples of injustice, as problems which a theory of justice must overcome. A number of post-World War II approaches do, however, challenge that seemingly obvious dualism between those two concepts.<ref>*See, e.g., Eric Heinze, ''The Concept of Injustice'' (Routledge, 2013).
* Clive Barnett ''The Priority of Injustice: Locating Democracy in Critical Theory''</ref> Justice can be thought of as distinct from [[wikt:benevolence|benevolence]], [[Charity (virtue)|charity]], [[prudence (virtue)|prudence]], [[mercy]], [[generosity]], or [[compassion]], although these dimensions are regularly understood to also be interlinked. Justice is the concept of [[cardinal virtue]]s, of which it is one.<ref>{{Citation|last=Wenar|first=Leif|title=John Rawls|date=2021|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2021/entries/rawls/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Summer 2021|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2021-05-20}}</ref> Metaphysical justice has often been associated with concepts of [[destiny|fate]], [[reincarnation]] or [[Divine Providence]], i.e., with a life in accordance with a cosmic plan.

The equivalence of justice and fairness has been historically and culturally established.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Daston|first=Lorraine|author-link=Lorraine Daston|year=2008|journal=Daedalus|pages=5–14|title=Life, Chance and Life Chances|doi=10.1162/daed.2008.137.1.5|volume=137|s2cid=57563698|doi-access=free}}</ref>