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Essay / Aquinas' Virtue of Justice - 554
Saint Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae understands that the virtue of justice must be based on the notion of "jus" or right and that justice guides man in his relationships with others according to a sort of equality, or fairness. “Jus” is what the relation of rightness is supposed to be and it is a right owed to other men, which specifies virtue (Thomas Aquinas; Summa Theologiae). By means of juice, an example would be that humans are related to each other as equals because it arises from common human behavior. Humans get along better when they have more behaviors in common, such as culture, attitude, emotions, values, ethics, and authority. Aquinas says that humans have better relationships when they have equal behaviors, as well as some of the same kinds of juice, or rightness (Aquinas; ST). Plato discovered the problem he was trying to solve, which was injustice, and he finally solved the matter which was justice. Plato's political philosophy is based on his principles that an individual is much more important than society and that it is necessary to understand the nature of the individual....