Aristotle and Natural Justice

Abstract

In Nicomachean Ethics V Aristotle outlines a framework with three elements, political, natural and conventional/legal justice. The paper aims to offer a more detailed picture of their relation and argues that natural and conventional justice are linked together. By distinguishing two phases of conventional justice, those before and after enactment, the first phase expresses a general rule that can be enacted in different ways. Such a general rule may also correspond to natural justice. The paper is about to show also that, on Aristotle’s view, natural justice does not imply strict regularity since nature itself allows for variations and natural laws apply only for the most part, which gives room for equity.