Social Justice: An Overview of Western Conception

Westerns thinkers have presented different ideas about the idea of social justice. Some western literature found this idea unnecessary while some found it necessary to maintain coherence in society. Justice, in opinion of Plato, is based on duties while Aristotle’s justice is somehow based on rights. Justice has a moral rather than legal content in idea of Plato. Western libertarian thinkers like Nozick, Hayek etc. find the idea of social justice unnecessary. They support minimum-interference of state in individual life. They advocate that distribution of resources should be based on merit. Another western thinker John Rawls states that everyone has equality of liberty. It means that one can do what he/she wants to do according to his/her choice. But, he also supports some special programmes for disadvantage sections of society. This paper examines different western views of social justice.