What is the ultimate basis for Justice?

29 novembre 2020
by A. Adedapo
5 min read
65 Comments

Extract from “Chapter 16: Contemporary issues 8”

Two students studying a master’s degree in law discuss how we can know where the ultimate basis for justice lies and why justice is important.

Reza: Sarah, how can we know where the ultimate basis for justice lies?

Sarah: In the legal constitutions, depending on your country, of course!

Reza: Does the ultimate basis for justice lie in another world?

Sarah: What do you mean?

Reza: Have you seen the film Gladiator?

Sarah: Yes, but what has that got to do with our question?

Reza: I remember a particular striking quote from Gladiator.

Sarah: Which is?

Reza: The gladiator, Maximus, says: “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of theArmies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” [1]

Sarah: Oh, yes, I remember.

Reza: The Romans and ancient Greeks believed in an after-life called Elysium.[2] This is what Maximus refers to in his desire for justice.

Sarah: But, why should he want or “deserve justice?

Reza: Well, he must have believed or accepted the precept that what is true and just is an objective standard irrespective of, and outside of my (or your) personal standards.

Sarah: So, this physical universe cannot be all that exists, because like the tip of an iceberg, certain events or concepts (like justice) by their existence imply a far greater and deeper reality below the surface of our own existence.

Reza: For example, if there is no “Final Judgement” when all injustices are corrected (or atoned for) then of what ultimate value is it for justice to be rendered in courts?

Sarah: But there is a deep human, instinctive understanding and requirement for justice in ALL cultures. Anthropologists have noted that all cultures have certain universal standards.

Reza: You mean standards of right and wrong such as the murder of parents being forbidden in all societies.

Sarah: Despite minor variations, the desire for (and existence of) justice in this world is widespread.

Sarah: For example, South American mothers claiming justice in finding missing loved ones and claims by the families of victims that perpetrators of injustice be brought to justice.

Reza: Yes, this is the tip of the “iceberg of justice” that shows that there must be a time and a place for a deeper and more ultimate rendering of justice.

Sarah: So, the rest of the iceberg exists in “another world or non-physical universe.”

Reza: Or shadows that we can see that tell us there are objects present which we are not looking at…..

Sarah: Is there not a quote about final justice somewhere?

Reza: Yes, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” [3]

Part of the REAL universe: the Auvergne, France, Planet Earth.

Sarah: Even those who claim there are no ethical standards (in certain areas) will complain loudly and clearly when they are wronged.

Reza: This is the philosopher [4] Francis Schaeffer’s « test of reality”.

Sarah: Despite what ethical standards we say we believe in, we live in this real universe and therefore must abide by its physical and ethical and moral laws.

Reza: And so, despite what we say about justice and rights and injustice,  our actions will:

a) testify to what we really believe in and

b) have consequences according to the ethical and emotional and psychological laws of THIS real world or universe.

Sarah: So….?

Reza: So, Greeks and Romans like the fictional Maximus considered that if they did not get justice in this life, they would get satisfaction in the afterlife.

Sarah: He shows that the ancient Greeks and Romans, from which much of Western culture and philosophy is based, considered that justice transcended death, meaning that justice was possible now or in the afterlife.

Reza: After his death in the film, Maximus, the hero, walks through the Elysian Fields (from which the famous street in Paris, the Champs Élysées, gets its name).

Sarah: Ah, you learn something new every day!

Reza: Ah…yes! He meets his dead son and wife who welcome him home.

Sarah: I take it that this is because the Elysian Fields were where in Greek and Roman Mythology, heroes were rewarded.

Reza: “Originally only heroes whom the gods had made immortal went to Elysium” [5] Eventually, it became the destination of anyone who had lived a righteous life.”

Sarah: Thus, it was fitting for one who had fought for justice and lived a righteous life to go to “The Elysian Plains” in the Roman way of thinking.

Reza: Back to our question…

Sarah: So, dear reader as well as in this world, “Does the ultimate basis for justice lie inanother world?”

Sources:

[1]. Maximus Quotes; Scott, Ridley, director. Gladiator. IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/quotes/qt0404398. Accessed 12th Aug 2019

[2] »Elysium.” Myths Encyclopedia, www.mythencyclopedia.com/Dr-Fi/ Elysium.html. Accessed 12th August 2019 at 17:39

[3] “BibleGateway.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 NIV –  Bible Gateway, www.Biblegateway.com/passage/? search=2Corinthians 5v10 version=NIV. Accessed 12th August 2019 

[4] Schaeffer, Francis A. “The God Who Is There: Speaking Historic Christianity into the Twentieth Century.” InterVarsity Press, 1979.

[5] Elysium.” Myths Encyclopedia, www.mythencyclopedia.com/Dr-Fi/ Elysium.html. Accessed 12th August 2019

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