Loading ...Not all right acts are just but all just acts are right.
First,here are the conditions that must be fulfilled for an act to be morally right:
- The person must be a moral person –wanting to do what is the right thing to do
- The person must be capable of assuming responsibility for his action.
- The person must have freedom of the will.
Second,here are the conditions that must be fulfilled for an act to be just:
- An act of impartiality which is one’s duty to do
- Recognize a person’s rights to an object of interest
- Act from a morally good motive – a desire to do what is the right thing to do
- Giving a person what he deserves
From this comparison,it is evident that the three conditions that have to be met for an act to be morally right are shared by both – ‘right’ and ‘justice’. However,the list of conditions for an act to be just includes tree additional conditions. Let me illustrate the difference with the following story.
Emma’s Story – Just and Right Action
We have seen how the church Board deliberated over the difficult decision about keeping their church open or to close it for financial reasons. According to the report from the Board Chair,the Board was clearly committed to the desire to do what is the right thing to do. In their deliberations,they demonstrated that they were capable of assuming responsibility for his action. They exercised their free will in the decision to recommend to their congregation to close the church,the more difficult decision. The Board clearly met the conditions of a ‘morally right decision’.
Yet,when they were asked by Arthur,the Chair of the Board,to review their decision in light of the implications it would have for people who depended on the support of their church,they were confronted with the issue of ‘justice’ Was their decision just? Now their decision had to meet three more conditions:a) Was their decision an act of impartiality which was their duty to do;b) Did they recognize the individual rights of people in their community;c) Did they give the people in the community what they deserve? The Board discussed these issues in the context of one particular person,Emma. She had been supported by many in the Church to meet the challenges of mental illness throughout her life. What is the just thing to do for people like Emma,they asked themselves?
These three questions compelled the Board to review their decision to close the church. After lengthy discussions,they decided that they still needed to close the church but they also needed to address the needs of the community which had come to depend on the church. They felt that they should make a decision which is not only ‘morally right’ but also ‘just’. Hence,they decided to open a community centre in the community after they would close the church.
At the conclusion of their discussions they reviewed the process that had led them to their final decisions,namely to close the church and to attend to the needs of the community which had come to depend on the services of the church. Suddenly,one of the Board members asked the converse of the question they had been discussing,namely,‘Are all just acts right?’
The answer to this question became evident to everyone quite quickly because it lay in the discussion they had just had. Simply,the conditions that need to be met for an act to be right are included in the conditions needed for an act to be just. ‘Justice’ adds three more conditions which they had discussed at length.
The Board concluded from these discussions that ,in future,they should not only focus on making sure their actions are morally right ,but on whether their actions are just. Their deliberations had led them to an important insight into ‘morally right action’ and ‘just action’.
To read Emma’s story and the support she received from a church,click HERE.
