Page - 1833 - in The Complete Aristotle
Image of the Page - 1833 -
Text of the Page - 1833 -
presumably the gods) cannot have too much of them, and to others, those who
are incurably bad, not even the smallest share in them is beneficial but all
such goods are harmful, while to others they are beneficial up to a point;
therefore justice is essentially something human.
<
div class=“section” title=“10”>
10
Our next subject is equity and the equitable (to epiekes), and their
respective relations to justice and the just. For on examination they appear to
be neither absolutely the same nor generically different; and while we
sometime praise what is equitable and the equitable man (so that we apply the
name by way of praise even to instances of the other virtues, instead of ‘good’
meaning by epieikestebon that a thing is better), at other times, when we
reason it out, it seems strange if the equitable, being something different from
the just, is yet praiseworthy; for either the just or the equitable is not good, if
they are different; or, if both are good, they are the same.
These, then, are pretty much the considerations that give rise to the
problem about the equitable; they are all in a sense correct and not opposed to
one another; for the equitable, though it is better than one kind of justice, yet
is just, and it is not as being a different class of thing that it is better than the
just. The same thing, then, is just and equitable, and while both are good the
equitable is superior. What creates the problem is that the equitable is just, but
not the legally just but a correction of legal justice. The reason is that all law
is universal but about some things it is not possible to make a universal
statement which shall be correct. In those cases, then, in which it is necessary
to speak universally, but not possible to do so correctly, the law takes the
usual case, though it is not ignorant of the possibility of error. And it is none
the less correct; for the error is in the law nor in the legislator but in the nature
of the thing, since the matter of practical affairs is of this kind from the start.
When the law speaks universally, then, and a case arises on it which is not
covered by the universal statement, then it is right, where the legislator fails
us and has erred by oversimplicity, to correct the omission-to say what the
legislator himself would have said had he been present, and would have put
into his law if he had known. Hence the equitable is just, and better than one
kind of justice-not better than absolute justice but better than the error that
arises from the absoluteness of the statement. And this is the nature of the
equitable, a correction of law where it is defective owing to its universality. In
fact this is the reason why all things are not determined by law, that about
1833
back to the
book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156