We are in an interesting time within our country and we are experiencing shifts across the board in values and perceptions. Not only are we changing in terms of demographics but we also must compete as a single people toward shared goals. We likewise are very divisive at this time and polarized politically and socially. The lone voices of those who are trying to pull us together are muted by the obnoxious voices of those trying to exploit differences.
Let us also add the ideas that technology and the economy are changing quicky creating platform shifts into the Digital Era (its probably more scientifically true then not true. There are economic and historical studies on how things like the wheel, iron, printing press, Internet cause transitions in the way in which we conduct our business affairs and our daily lives. These root changes are called paradigm shifts/platform shifts/renaissance).
Anway we are going to go through some changes as a people I think and that will require us to anchor some of our values to something we can agree upon. Whether true or not I believe a positive just world view based in our shared principles helps keep society together, keep us focused on the right societal values, and provides the greatest opportunities for success. Justice is central to that positive just world view.
Culture and personality impact one's perception of a just world view (JWV). The belief that good should bring positive and bad should bring punishment is an interesting one based deeply in meaning making. In other words "people get what they deserve". You may read Differential Associations of Personal and General Just-World Beliefs with the FiveFactor and the HEXACO Models of Personality JWV is seen as more fallacy than reality by scientists and scholars. People who believe in JWV are often seen as somewhat delusion in the sense that the world is a safe place and people will do what is right and just. It is a type of making order from that which doesn't appear orderly (I believe this is a wrong assumption.)
The Conception of Justice
These are just theoretical dribbles and mental thought splatter for discussion. Socrates was an important philosopher and much of his value are infused into the way we think today. When we read about his society we can sort of find some of the similarities. While technology has changed quickly the nature of people for both good and bad has stayed somewhat consistent I think.
Despite this perception of bleak disparity many scientists and pure rationalists take, there may be a grain of truth that the world has order and full of systems that are complex and interrelated (Making them hard to understand with a narrow lens of supported by limited scientific measurements of minute focus). While a divine order may be hard to prove scientifically it is possible to show that nature functions like a large complex system of mutually dependent co-dependence in life. Thus the more one engages in poor behaviors, typically defined as harmful or risky to society (i.e. rudeness, reckless, lying, stealing, aggression, etc..) the more there should be individual and societal consequences (In universal justice systems the outside variables like race, religion, education, wealth, etc. would not be factors in influencing outcomes because truth and moral conscious are embedded into the symbolism, culture, processes, and outcomes.
That can often comes from big data feedback, science, moral/ethical development of society, belief in democracy, and open-mindedness to the inherent value of difference.).
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| Source: Oudeyer, Pierre-Yves & Kaplan, Frederic. (2007). What is Intrinsic Motivation? A Typology of Computational Approaches. Frontiers in neurorobotics. 1. 6. 10.3389/neuro.12.006.2007. |
While we are not always rational on an individual basis based we are as a species more rational as a collective. Unless one is internally motivated to work toward a better world/justice world, the majority of us need the right environment to encourage prosocial goals. There are similarities, reason, and logic within cultural underpinnings which help maintain a sense of collective order that includes reward and punishment. While individuals and groups (i.e. extremism) might play havoc in the short run, the longer run sense of order returns to be disrupted again as the slow grinding process of development occurs.
Individual and Criminal Behavior
There are differences in personality between those who are contributors of the world and those who engage in criminal behaviors. To understand better you may want to read The Link between Individual Personality Traits and Criminality: A Systematic Review that discusses criminality and personality. What the authors found was the criminal mind shares some traits (i) psychopathy; (ii) low self-control; and (iii) difficult temperament.
What we find is that those who are willing to engage in criminal behavior have traits that make it difficult for others around them. They lack a sense of fairness and therefore a sense of justice because they cannot treat others fairly. As a society we want to discourage those behaviors when they occur as an individual, clan, group, etc.
Why is a justice oriented environment with positive cultural underpinnings helpful? Criminals don't often follow rules and/or misuse rules for self gain. They are essentially self centered in their orientation and that impacts choices throughout their lives. Externally motivated people follow rules, roles, and customs to understand to make sense out of the world. Our cultural underpinnings should rest on some very fundamental rules as defined in our social contracts.
The Conception of Justice
The concepts of justice is a solution to our societal problems. We have all types of issues we are facing in business, government and society. For example, we have high concentrations of wealth in fewer hands, we have a rise in organized extremism, we have concerns about policing, issues with institutional integrity and even political gamesmanship that costs the country greatly in trust and performance (i.e. the Santos Method of gaining prominence). These are just some of the concerns.
Most of these ills can be muted through examining our core values of what we expect and want out of our society. The measure of a person should be seen through their earned character and not by superficiality of scientifically useless markers. Socrates believed that Athens was struggling because it was missing justice. Justice is seen as societal cure and I believe that applies to ourselves in many ways.
What Socrates believed in was the character of a person. Justice was seen as a virtue that made one consistently good while social conscious encouraged society to be good (I adjusted this to be 'moral conscious' because I believe social conscious could be good or bad but moral conscious is a collective understanding of assumptions of virtue and is consistently good as a collective of individuals within society. It sort of splitting hairs but its a more accurate reflection I believe with the term Dikaisyne.)
Read this article to gain a better understanding. Pay attention to internal and external character of justice. 'Plato's Concept Of Justice: An Analysis'
The Supporters of the Just and Unjust World
In our lives we will come across different forms good and bad, justice and injustice, pro social and anti social behaviors. I am a supporter of a justice system where truth and moral conscious are part of how we function and exist as a people. Likewise, I'm also a supporter of integrity of individuals and integrity of institutions (as well as those within them). Our best path forward as a society is to encourage a shared sense of purpose as a people and live by the concept of justice as both individuals and as a collective. No matter what station or role one is, we should always lean toward our ideals and avoid relishing in the mud. I'm a believer of the justice/ethical world and encourage others to be believers of it as well because the more we believe in right over might the more functional, connected, and collaborative we will be as a people (That is a central way of overcoming future challenges where we need a full functioning society). That is also why I like the concept of universal democracy (more on that later) because it ties us to shared moral American ideals (race and religion has nothing to do with quality of character or one's value in a universal democracy).
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