Why is "decency" so appealing to our sense of justice?

Answer 1

The concept of 'decency' appeals to the basics of human interactions. It is a unifying factor which places others on the same level that either we hope to achieve or have already found and respect. As with all other subjective concepts, there are some fundamental tenents of decency which we as a race use to evaluate the level of decency in others; religion or religious tendecies, the perception of moral fiber, how a person appears to lead their life, their affiliations. When used to adjudicate justice, decency becomes not only a measure of the person's actions, but also their intentions: i.e. a 'decent' person may have done a terrible thing, but because they are perceived as being 'decent' their misdemeanor can be overlooked or explained as a one-time thing. By the same token a person deemed 'indecent' will fare far worse in the court of public opinion for any infraction, no matter how slight.

Answer 2

Decency defies philosophy.
Deep inside, that resident philosopher in the back of your head says that you should appreciate being miserable for a while - it coulkd make you wise, mentally stronger. Yet nobody really does something about it - just gives the philosopher more merlot to make him/her be quiet.
But what if someone with authority didn't ignore it? The president, prime minister? They fire lawyers...police...firefighters...any occupation that makes sure justice prevails if gone.
BOOM. CRASH. In a matter of time, the country is a disaster. Full of civil wars and anything similar.
Some fellow in a foreign country reads about the new disaster ground in their newspaper. They partly believe the philosopher, but then they think: "They could be just a little decent, at least..."

Answer 3

Would justice be justice without decency? Or would it just be vengeance. If we are to perform justice, which by the way derives from the word just, then we cannot lower ourselves to the level of indecency or we have committed the same crime. Justice: what is right and acceptable, deserved.

Answer 4

A few hallmark terms in American Law & Jurisprudence elaborate on or about a reasonable man and the question of due care & due consideration which I suppose equate to that social and thus common sense of decency.

Answer 5

Perhaps because both refer (in some sense) to that which is appropriate.

"Decency" identifies those behaviors and speech patterns that are appropriate in public (or whatever other context we are dealing with).

"Justice" refers to what is fitting, fair, or appropriate in a situation.

So they share a common basis in identifying what is appropriate in a given context. In this way, they are often quite closely related to each other.

Answer 6

because our sense of justice is defined by or made up of decency, reasonability, fairness and so forth

Answer 7

maybe decency and justice are the same, as simple as that!