Delphic Maxim 26: Practice what is just
I’ve set myself the challenge of responding to each Delphic Maxim for 15 minutes a day.
27. Practice what is just
Just as I was getting ready to write this morning’s response, I was scrolling through the Sydney Morning Herald and reading about the latest instance of snouts-in-the-trough action in Canberra. Today, it turns out the Attorney-General has been appointing his mates to jobs that pay a quarter of a million dollars. The Attorney-General. The highest law officer in the country, the man responsible for maintaining the justice system in Australia. What better time to reflect on the practice of what is just.
It’s important to emphasise the wording there: what is just, rather than justice. Justice operates in a particular, heavily circumscribed way. It’s written down, coded into particular and precise language, designed to be interpreted, applied, challenged and as impersonal as possible. That’s the practice of justice I suppose, but not the heart and soul of justice as a concept. Justice as a concept is something that is applied in our daily lives — it involves the reparation of wrongs, whether they be deliberate harms caused against a person, or systemic injustices that perpetuate across generations. If you’ve been following along, you might remember Maxim Number 5: be overcome by justice. Refer to that for more on the social justice philosophical connection.
So to practice what is just is a bit of an extension of that idea that we should be overcome by justice. Being ‘just’ is not about the exercise of power or force, but actually about the exercise of fairness in the different worlds in which we operate. In our social worlds, we need to be just in order to keep society in good order — being just is as much about mercy as it is about consequence. To practice what is just in our social world means considering the needs of those who are less fortunate than we are, not because we feel obliged to but because we are committed to a good, just society. How does this look in daily life? Well for some it might involve going as far as giving up time, money and energy to socially just causes. To others, this might involve paying your taxes and voting for governments whose policies aim to remedy these injustices.
While principles like this shouldn’t be reduced to something as crude as a quid pro quo, it’s obviously a factor as well. Treating others as you would like to be treated is an example of practicing what is just, since you’re unlikely to want to be treated unjustly. Practicing what is just is, at its core, that commitment to being fair.
What does this mean for our politicians then? Well, the snouts-in-the-trough crowd are a bit of a problem. The jobs that exist in public service that are essentially a gift of the parliament are roles intended for community service — even the really high paying ones. This means that the practice of what is just should require politicians to choose the best people for the job, the most meritorious appointments, and those with a deep and abiding respect for the institution and its capacity to deliver good to the community. Appointing friends, nepotism, corruption — these are all things that degrade the daily practice of what is just.
I’m sure the temptation to make decisions that benefit yourself or causes that you believe in is overwhelming. But that’s the time when this maxim should most stick in your head: what is the just thing to do? What is the right thing to do? Do that.
