A Brief History ofJustice traces the development of the idea of justice from the ancient world until the present day, with special attention to the emergence of the modern idea of social justice.
An accessible introduction to the history of ideas about justice
Shows how complex ideas are anchored in ordinary intuitions about justice
Traces the emergence of the idea of social justice
Identifies connections as well as differences between distributive and corrective justice
Offers accessible, concise introductions to the thought of several leading figures and schools of thought in the history of philosophy
About the Author
David Johnston is Professor of Political Science and formerly Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. His books include The Rhetoric of Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes and the Politics of Cultural Transformation (1986), The Idea of a Liberal Theory (1994), Leviathan: A Norton Critical Edition (ed. with Richard Flathman, 1997), and Equality (ed., 2000).