God forbade...must reading!

Reciprocity





   The standard definition of justice shows a connection to reciprocity. Justice includes the idea of fairness, treating similar cases similarly, giving people what they deserve and apportioning all other benefits and burdens in an equitable way. These involve acting in a principled and impartial way, might require sacrifices, not playing favorites.



  On individual well-being, people need to stay out of each other's way to pursue interests without interference. This, immediately justifies mutually advantageous rules, but, concern when requiring people disadvantaged by following rules or can get away with disobeying them. The problem becomes showing when its better to follow rules of justice when inconvenient or costly.



  Social contract theorists invoke reciprocity. Humans help each other from time to time. If we can arrange a system where all benefits given are returned, in full, that may justify playing by the rules, even if we might have got away with not doing so.



  Social well-being contributes to group organization, improving public health, society-wide levels of education, community wealth or individual welfare. Again, concern for sacrifice of welfare for others, especially when discrepancies exist in goals for social improvement.



  Here too, reciprocity invoked, limiting the sacrifices required. It'd be strange if the sacrifices were unnecessary, or in vain if they could not be achieved.



Justice based on reciprocity would be ideal to balance individual and social well-being.



  John Rawls proposed a 'just savings principle', a consequence of interest in the welfare of their descendants and the agreements fully reciprocal members of society would come to about these things.



   The arguement is that families can be grossly unjust, and have been. Since the family is 'the school of justice', if unjust, the moral education of children is distorted, injustice spreads to society at large, perpetuated in following generations. If so, justice and reciprocity must define the boundaries in the pursuit of the most intimate relationships.









Wikipedia