Perhaps Justice is Enough
My most recent post suggested that we must love one another or die. This is both unrealistic and too strong. It is unrealistic to expect us to love all others. It is too strong a claim because love does not assure our survival nor does the lack of love assure our destruction.
Instead we might say that without justice our chances of surviving diminish. And the reason is that if we all abide by the constraints of justice we would all live in a better world, one more conducive to our survival. Aristotle famously said that if all people were friends then we wouldn’t need justice, but since we all don’t love each other justice is necessary. I think he was right.
I have dealt with the issue of the nature of justice in previous posts so there is no need to rehash those arguments, except to say that society is built upon what E.O. Wilson called “soft-core” altruism. Not on love between family members but on fairness and justice in our dealings with others. If I rent your house, use your land or eat your food, then I should pay you for the privilege–unless you decide to let me use them for free. How do we elicit this human cooperation? Again previous posts have discussed the issue.
So here is how I would summarize the essence of the last two posts.
We must love one another for all to live best; be just with one another for all to live well; and not hate one another or we will die.
