Customer Reviews

What Is Justice?: Classic and Contemporary Readings

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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I read this in a doctoral seminar on social justice in education. This book is for those that want to have an in depth look at justice. Very theoretical and thought provoking. Be prepared to have to read things more than once to try and gather meaning.

Using this book, I've taught introductory courses in political philosophy for the last five years. It presents a wide array of selections from primary sources (both classical & contemporary) with short editorial remarks. This book is best for (1) course adaptation, and (2) for those who have already mastered the basics and want a quick selection of representative texts on political philosophy to round out their knowledge.

The selection of texts is wide, covering both practical questions such as punishment and economic justice, as well as theoretical questions such as the legitimacy of governments. It does this without sacrificing depth, covering not only different perspectives (which I would expect from any good text) but also covering different perspectives from both classical and contemporary texts (which it rare).

I've found the selections are edited judiciously. The suppressed portions of the text never change the meaning of the author's argument; the suppressions usually make the text more readable. One (minor) quibble: the text and margins are both slightly smaller than I would like. Given the amount of text in the volume this may be a fair compromise.

This book is very good. It gives a very solid philosophical inquiry into the basis of government and society and the meaning and manifestation of justice in the social order. The samples of writings are from many different authors and the selections are meaningful and yet short enough to not be too drawn-out so it stays interesting. It is probably most useful as a reader in a classroom setting and yet is certainly recommended to anyone simply with serious interest in understanding justice more clearly and what its basis is, its significance and its relevance to anyone living in a society. The selections navigate the very subtle nuances and characteristics that make justice meaningful and relevant to everyone. I recommend it to every citizen, wherever they are at in relation to government.