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We. On the first day
of my first political philosophy class.

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I remember my professor,
a kind and generous man named Gary Morris,

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going around the room and asking the same
question of everyone in the class.

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What is justice?

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Doctor Ramirez asked further questions
to test each definitions.

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Applicability,
invariably finding each one lacking.

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There was always an exception
or a loophole

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the student hadn't expected, but which
nevertheless invalidated their definition.

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When he finally came to me,
I replied simply, it's just a word.

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I'll never forget the look he gave me.

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Sounds like someone's been reading
too much French philosophy, shot back.

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I don't know if it's clever or lazy,

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but it's wrong,
he said and moved on to the next student.

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Doctor, marriage is, of course, right,

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whether I was trying to be clever
or just gotten lazy.

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Reducing a concept like justice
to just another word prevented me

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from thinking deeply about

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what is probably the central question
of political philosophy.

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I obviously can't interrogate you here
as I have been,

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but I encourage you to try this out
with a friend or a family member.

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What you'll probably find is the same
thing Socrates found in ancient Athens.

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Most of us think we know what justice is
and consider ourselves just people.

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Yet defining justice turns out to be
a remarkably difficult task.

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Is justice a virtue?

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Is it good?

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If it is good?

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Is it more advantageous than injustice?

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Would you prefer to be a just person
and an unjust world,

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or an unjust person in an otherwise
just world?

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Are you tempted to answer that question

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one way in your heart
and another way in public?

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These are some of the questions
to which we will turn.

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And this unit

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the next four weeks will take us
from ancient Athens to modern day Boston.

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And that time we will dig into
how justice relates

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to other pro-social qualities
like generosity and courage.

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Test the limits of just behavior
in an unjust world, and consider

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how attention to justice can help
reform our current political institutions.

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This video will briefly introduce you
to each of this unit's thinkers,

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and pose some questions
you might consider as you read their work.

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We'll begin at the beginning.

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The Athenians put the philosopher Socrates
to death in 399 BC, and for,

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among other offenses, peppering the city's
most distinguished men with questions

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they couldn't answer about justice.

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It was more complicated than that.

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But for our purposes, it's enough
to know that his student, Plato,

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reconstructed Socratic political
philosophy by developing his thought

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through the kinds of dialogs
for which Socrates was famous.

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As you read selections from his Republic,

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I encourage you to reflect on

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how his method of political discourse
compares with the tenor and tone

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of contemporary debates

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from Plato.

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You'll turn to a student, Aristotle.

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His work develops

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as a kind of reaction to the positions
Plato takes in the Republic.

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If Plato was the father
of political philosophy in the West,

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Aristotle was the father
of empirical political science.

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As you read the politics, pay
special attention to his distinction

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between arithmetical
and geometrical forms of justice.

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Not all political theorist
consider justice intrinsically worthwhile.

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Indeed, some even

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consider it a luxury that truly
political animals can scarcely afford.

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The Renaissance thinker Niccolo
Machiavelli falls into the second camp,

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at least on the surface.

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We'll explore several
interpretive possibilities for his short

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masterpiece,
The Prince, in the coming weeks.

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As you read, however,
I invite you to take seriously the notion

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that accomplishing great things sometimes
requires getting one's hands dirty.

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While Machiavelli

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is frequently caricatured as a theorist
who glories in bloodshed,

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it's true
that he does accept certain degrees

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of violence as part and parcel
of the dangerous world of politics.

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So what do you think he means

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when he encourages
political leaders to use cruelty?

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Well,

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what if not justice marks

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the distinction between necessary
force and wanton inhumanity.

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We'll next read selections from Emmanuel
Kant's epochal work of enlightenment.

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More philosophy
the groundwork of the metaphysical morals.

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Don't let the title put you off.

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While Kant isn't always
the most accessible writer.

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His insights into the nature of morality
and its demands upon us as self

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legislating agents supplies
the philosophical foundation for the kinds

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of rights based political discourse
with which you are no doubt familiar.

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Unlike Machiavelli,
who thinks different situations call

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for different attitudes toward justice,

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Kant's categorical imperative maintains
that we are duty bound as

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rational creatures to do the right thing,
no matter the consequences.

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Finally, we conclude this unit

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with American philosopher
John Rawls's essay Justice is Fairness.

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Political, not metaphysical.

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If the idealism of Plato in court struck
you as naive,

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and if Machiavelli's relativism left you
queasy, Rawls's decidedly

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institutionalized notion of justice
as the fair distribution of opportunity

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and a society
might strike the right balance.

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As you
read his dense but illuminating piece.

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I'd like you to keep
the following question in mind.

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What's the difference
between a boxing bout and a street fight?

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I will supply supplementary lectures
examining specific elements of each work

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under consideration.

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In the meantime, please let me know
if you have any questions or concerns,

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and I'll get back to you
as quickly as possible. Happy reading!