Fairness

Definition

Fairness is the virtue of giving each person their due: the disposition to treat people without arbitrary partiality, to apply the same standards to all, and to give each what they have a claim to. The formal principle of fairness is the principle of equality before the rule: like cases should be treated alike. The substantive question — what the like cases have in common, and what they are due — is the question of justice, and the history of ethics is the history of the answers. Fairness is the social form of justice: the virtue exercised in the distribution of benefits and burdens, in the treatment of equals as equals, and in the judgment of cases without fear or favor.

Historical Views

The three great philosophical accounts of fairness structure the tradition. Aristotle analyzed fairness as the proportion: justice distributes according to merit, and the fair distribution is the proportional — equals to equals, and unequals to unequals in proportion to their difference. Kant located fairness in the form of the moral law: the categorical imperative tests whether the maxim of the action could be willed as universal law — the fair action is the one that can be universalized without contradiction, the action that treats every person as an end and never merely as a means. Rawls made fairness the foundation of the whole of justice: the principles of justice are the principles that would be chosen behind the veil of ignorance, where no one knows their place in society — and the fair society is the society that no one would reject from behind the veil.

Different Cultural Perspectives

The ideal of fairness is universal, though the traditions ground it differently. The Confucian tradition grounds it in the reciprocity of the golden rule: "do not do to others what you would not have done to yourself" — the fairness of the measure. The Buddhist tradition grounds it in the impartiality of compassion: the good will extends to all beings without partiality. The Stoic tradition grounds it in the reason that is common: the rational creature is the citizen of the world-city, and the fairness of the treatment is the fairness of the equals who share the reason. The modern universalism of human rights is the global form of the ideal: the rights that belong to every person by virtue of the common humanity, and the treatment that no person may be denied.

Practical Lessons

Fairness yields practical lessons. First, the formal principle: like cases treated alike — the same standards applied to all, without the arbitrary exception. Second, the substantive question: what are the like cases, and what is each due? — the merit, the need, the claim, and the balance of the criteria. Third, the test of the impartiality: would I accept this distribution if I did not know my own place in it? — the Rawlsian test that corrects the self-interest. Fourth, the golden rule: the fairness of the treatment is the fairness I would want for myself. The practice of fairness is the daily discipline of the judgment: the equal treatment of the equals, the due given to each, the standard applied without fear or favor.

Related Thinkers

The philosophy of fairness is represented by Aristotle (justice as proportion), Kant (the universalizability of the moral law), and John Rawls (justice as fairness). The concept connects to the wider wisdom themes of justice and impartiality, and it grounds the ethics of social contract theory.

zability: "Act only on that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." And Rawls states the foundation: "The principles of justice are those that would be chosen behind the veil of ignorance — the principles that no one would reject if no one knew their place."