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Law and Justice

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Law and Justice
Law and justice are two words that are both difficult and easy to understand. The word law is defined by a system of rules that is shown to help govern behavior. The word justice exact definition is behavior or treatment. It is hard to grasp the meaning of these words due to the fact that they are huge topics. These words define our government and the way we are treated. Law and justice are recognized by society because they are what run the government, without laws we would have no rules or boundaries that need to be followed. The same goes for justice, without justice, we would have complete mayhem because there would be no consequences for wrong behavior. Socrates is the one philosopher that I disagree with. His theory is that we must accept punishment unconditionally. I disagree with this due to the fact that sometimes people get wrongly convicted, we need justice to help these wrongly convicted people have what they deserve, which is freedom. When someone who is wrongly convicted goes to court they are often let go if they did not convict this crime. This may have worked in when Socrates was convicted but since his charges were exaggerated he should have had a reduced sentence. Instead Socrates believed that he must except the punishment from the state (Athens) because he had benefits that Athens provided him, he could not defy the state’s judgement because if he did he would be defying the democratic standards he had taken advantage of. This would not have worked in today’s society because if someone is convicted they go to court. If they are proven guilty during countless of court dates then they have to take the consequences of their actions- considering the fact if they actually committed the crime or not. The one philosopher I agree with is Thomas Hobbes. His theory was to create a social contract between people and the state they lived in. In Hobbes’ theory he refused to believe the concept of God, this is because he did not think it was right to think that the spiritual element resulted in the existence of the monarchy. I agree with this concept not because I don’t think that the spiritual element has anything to do with laws and justice. This idea worked because then people would really see their consequences if the did something wrong breaking their contract with the state. Thomas Hobbes thought that it was a good idea to “create laws with the intention of bettering the human state”. Laws should be created because they keep us in order and can help us feel and be safe. I think that we should create more higher punishment on more severe crimes to enforce good behavior and lower the crime rate. True justice can be found if our law enforcers spent more time trying to help innocent people have freedom when wrongly convicted. In our justice system there needs to be higher punishements for more severe crimes, such as murder and rape. I think law and justice are both corrupt because when you go to court you are appointed a judge and jury for your case, this judge and jury pretty much decide your fate. Society is overlooking right and wrong. This is because everyone is focused on “my rights” but they don’t remember that their rights mean nothing if no one else has them.
In conclusion I have decided what philosopher I agree with and what philosopher I disagree with. I disagree with Socrates for his theory of accepting the law unconditionally. I agree with Thomas Hobbes for his idea for the social contract. My philosophy differed from the philosophers I focused on. This is because I focused more on the law enforcers. The philosophers focused more on the citizens of the state. Furthermore, my philosophy focused on the laws not the citizens of the state.

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