Idea of Justice

This post is written from the article of Amartya Sen on his idea of justice.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/16/stories/2009071655950900.htm

The question asked by Amartya Sen is about three children and a flute. Three children — Anne, Bob and Carla — are quarrelling over a flute: Anne claims the flute on the ground that she is the only one of the three who knows how to play it; Bob demands it on the basis that he is so poor that — unlike others — he has no other toys to play with and it would therefore mean a lot to him if the flute were given to him; and Carla says that it belongs to her because she has made it with her own labour.

The important thing to note here is that none of the claimants questions their rival's argument but claims that his or hers is the most persuasive. So who deserves the flute? Amarta Sen says that none of them deserves it individually, it all depends on the situation we are dealing with. This is ofcourse the right answer in my opinion. But what are meant by the situations in these cases.

Anne is the single person who can play the flute. So if the situation demands entertainment to those who love music, there is only one solution which is to hand over the flute to Anne. If the situation demands self entertainment to the children, then its fair to hand over the flute to Bob as the other children do have other means of entertainment. If you are a pedant and go acording to the rules then the flute belongs to the right owner who made it which in this case is Carla.

Though the law has a set of rules which are to be follwed for a balanced society, they can be slightly modified according to the situation. Real justice is not obtained by following the rules to an extreme sense, but only using the rules according to the situation. Rules should be taken in spirit and not in word. The character of a person, both his moral and ethical attitudes are reflected through his/her decisions in that situation. The unity, understanding in the society is guided by these attitudes. The complete configuration in this world also depends on this attitudes of the people.