Authors: L. E. Goodman
ISBN-13: 9781904113706, ISBN-10: 1904113702
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
Date Published: March 2008
Edition: REV
What is fair? How do rights join hands with generosity? How can punishment be justified? Is there recompense for human suffering? What sense can we make of immortality, or of the idea of a messianic age? In On Justice Lenn Goodman offers the first general theory of justice for more than a century to tap the riches of the Jewish tradition-biblical, rabbinic, and philosophical-and bring its texts into dialogue with the classic works of Western ethics and political philosophy.
Introduction to the Paperback Edition vii
1 Toward a Theory of Justice 1
The Basis of Exchange 2
Desert and Consent 9
An Objective Theory of Deserts 23
2 Punishment 43
The Logic of Punishment 44
Retribution and Deserts 59
Punishment versus Vengance 69
3 Recompense 75
Deontological and Teleological Ethics 76
Extrinsic Rewards 92
Intrinsic Rewards 100
4 Do Beings Receive What They Deserve? 119
Moral, Metaphysical, and Natural Justice 120
The Working Out of Natural Justice 133
Biblical Prophecy and Natural Justice 140
5 The Messianic Age 156
Variations on a Theme 156
Demythologizing the Messiah 165
Accessible Messianism 180
6 Whereafter? 195
Scripture and Immortality 196
What Are We to Expect? 209
Immortality within the World 221
Notes 235
Index of Passages 263
General Index 271