Justice, A Perspective.
by Dr. Parviz Dehghani
It is such a beautiful word. It reminds me of Plato’s “ideai” or form. One writer by the name of W.T. Jones once wrote the term “Form” replaced “ideai” because the latter becomes mind bound. However, the same writer writes, the way to Plato’s Forms is through thought. (A History of Western Philosophy) Then my question is, why come up with such a word as “Form”, if thought is the way to Forms? Perhaps it is the Intellect, not Kant’s pure reason, which is the way to the perfect Forms of Plato. Why the word “Form” when the term “Ideai” could convey the same message, which is a lot closer to Plato’s own word? But, do I have to go through all this in order to have a sense and understanding of what justice is? However, I seem to, somewhat, know what it is. My main question rather is where is it?
Solomon began with the scale of equality when he asked the baby claimed by two women to be put in front of him to be cut in half. Each woman would get an exact amount, such that if we were to weigh each part, they both would be of the same weight. The real mother, however, asked Solomon to let the other woman have the baby before it was cut in half. The truth emerged, and the true mother was given the baby and the other woman, who had falsely claimed the baby, was sent away. Solomon conveyed the message that justice requires sacrifice. She, the real mother, fought for innocence to be preserved. She saved innocence, not her ego of possession. She let innocence reveal itself.
In this world we sometimes have to make sacrifices like that. Solomon reached Justice by the so-called justice of this world. He already knew what Justice meant and was.
We hear that customers are always right. We commit a logical fallacy by using such a statement on a regular basis. You and I know that such a thing doesn’t exist in the world we live. There’re customers who lie in order to achieve what they want. There’re also Cathy or mystery shoppers, who’re undercover investigators going to different stores acting like regular customers in order to gather information regarding employees and managers. Many companies rely heavily on these undercover customers for their productivity in the market place. Just because you are a customer, doesn’t mean you are always right. Customers are not necessarily always right. We as managers ought to be aware that for some customers what works is right. In other words, they do anything to get to their goals. The goal justifies the means for them. There’re typical Robin Hoods, who rob the rich in order to feed the poor. They even complain to the higher ups concerning the managers.
We need the Wisdom of Solomon to maintain true justice at our work places. Is it too farfetched? Not really, as long as we discern right from wrong and don’t put profit before our sense of justice.
Solomon didn’t go by the book, but he used his common sense and was able to taste Justice that was so admired by Plato. We ought to reward when it is deserved and punish when it is required.
In the story ‘To kill a mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, she tried to show how innocence could be sacrificed at the altar of total ignorance. Justice was challenged and somehow won the day. We should let it reveal itself. We must not cover the truth with falsehood