Does love for a particular person run counter to the concept of justice for all or equality of all?
2007-09-20 03:55:20 · 7 answers · asked by small 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
It is unjust if you let the 'intrinsic bias' of love get in the way with how you manage your other relationships and how you make 'socially and morally' fair judgments.
As for equality, it should not be equated with equity. When most people think of equality, what they really have in mind is equity. Equity is a state where everybody is equal, literally. Same this, same that, equal this, equal that. That's just impossible in the real world. I bet that even if you love a thousand people, you don't love all of them in the same way.
But equality can be achieved without perfect equity. It's not about dividing a loaf in equal sizes and giving 2 loaves to your one and only love and one loaf each to the others: it's about baking whole loaves for each and everyone(and making your loved one's extra special...)
2007-09-20 23:31:06 · answer #1 · answered by Aken 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Love is an emotion. An emotion can have some influence on you, but it does not necessary produce the result of that influence. Being in love with someone doesn't make you their slave. It may make you inclined to act more favourably to them... but in some environments it even does the OPPOSITE of this (a person may be harder on someone they love so as not to have the appearance of favouritism).
This is the critical point: love may change behaviour, but it does not necessarily change it in a specific way. Many parents allow their children to do things that harm themselves and then suffer the outcome BECAUSE they love them and want them to understand that actions have certain consequences. Many family members turn their loved ones in for crimes BECAUSE they want justice to be done and hope something can be learned from it. And sometimes love for a person isn't as strong as the love for justice that most of us have.
So because an influence is not a result, your suggestion that it 'negates' objectivity is fallacious. Being hungry can influence your decisions. Someone's height has even been proven to influence how others think about them. If you're looking for some magickal state where there is nothing exerting some kind of influence on your decision-making process, you're not going to find it.
Justice, then, is still quite possible when a person is in love. It may make it more difficult to achieve for some, but it may make it easier to achieve for others. Keep in mind also that justice is not the ONLY virtue that people value... many find mercy - which is much more accurately the antithesis of justice - to be valuable as well.
Love for a person, then, neither intrinsically supports nor erodes the proposition of just treatment of that person. How a person is inclined to act depends much more on the person and the situation than the specific feeling.
2007-09-20 12:01:40 · answer #2 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, i may agree with you but we should look at it in a different perspective. Loving a person is very subjective and personal. The person i love may not be the person you love. Loving a person necessitates a deeper feeling and involve closer attachment to the person you love. It is very much different to an immortal being or a divine being. Really, it is unjust in a broader sense and i see your point there.
2007-09-20 19:12:33 · answer #3 · answered by Third P 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends small it would be nice to love someone in this context but if the person I love is wrong in the broader sense of society I am not going to agree with him at all just like if I had a child and he did something morally wrong against society!!!!You need to put your love in check if he or she is wrong for the greater good of society!!!!!!
2007-09-20 11:14:33 · answer #4 · answered by Rita 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First of all, justice is a concept that is only useful for people who are paranoid. Get the idea of equality out of your head, because you don't understand what it means, and in your definition, it doesn't exist anyway.
Love is biased, because our existence is biased. Love is knowing, so obviously, what we know is biased because reality is only one thing - the truth.
2007-09-20 12:15:19 · answer #5 · answered by Josh 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends what kind of love you are referring to. Brotherly love, sisterly love would suffice that kind of love for our fellowmen. motherly love and fatherly love connotes different angle.
I think you're more inclined to pointing out the kind of love as that of agape love-which love is always used to define our love for our romantic partners/intimate partners. In here it sounds like indeed unfair (in a triangle) for the person who is not being loved in return. As result, brokenheartedness prevail. It happened to me couple times and i have accepted it as fair as i could. It is still fair for me because at least love still exists between the two other parties-nothing can go wrong with that. There is love in me by accepting what I can't change- setting my beloved free. All in all it is all fair in love.
2007-09-20 15:17:57 · answer #6 · answered by oscar c 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not in a rational person. Hatred causes many more problems than love ever did.
2007-09-20 12:18:58 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋