That is why the force which oppresses while protecting is execrable; why the silly ignorance which views with the same eye the marvels of art, and the products of the rudest industry, excites unutterable contempt; why proud mediocrity, which glories in saying, "I have paid you--I owe you nothing," is especially odious.
SOCIABILITY, JUSTICE, EQUITE--such, in its triplicity, is the exact definition of the instinctive faculty which leads us into communication with our fellows, and whose physical manifestation is expressed by the formula: EQUALITY IN NATURAL WEALTH, ANDTHE PRODUCTS OF LABOR.
These three degrees of sociability support and imply each other.
Equite cannot exist without justice; society without justice is a solecism.If, in order to reward talent, I take from one to give to another, in unjustly stripping the first, I do not esteem his talent as I ought; if, in society, I award more to myself than to my associate, we are not really associated.Justice is sociability as manifested in the division of material things, susceptible of weight and measure; equite is justice accompanied by admiration and esteem,--things which cannot be measured.
From this several inferences may be drawn.
1.Though we are free to grant our esteem to one more than to another, and in all possible degrees, yet we should give no one more than his proportion of the common wealth; because the duty of justice, being imposed upon us before that of equite, must always take precedence of it.The woman honored by the ancients, who, when forced by a tyrant to choose between the death of her brother and that of her husband, sacrificed the latter on the ground that she could find another husband but not another brother,--that woman, I say, in obeying her sense of equite, failed in point of justice, and did a bad deed, because conjugal association is a closer relation than fraternal association, and because the life of our neighbor is not our property.
By the same principle, inequality of wages cannot be admitted by law on the ground of inequality of talents; because the just distribution of wealth is the function of economy,--not of enthusiasm.
Finally, as regards donations, wills, and inheritance, society, careful both of the personal affections and its own rights, must never permit love and partiality to destroy justice.And, though it is pleasant to think that the son, who has been long associated with his father in business, is more capable than any one else of carrying it on; and that the citizen, who is surprised in the midst of his task by death, is best fitted, in consequence of his natural taste for his occupation, to designate his successor; and though the heir should be allowed the right of choice in case of more than one inheritance,--nevertheless, society can tolerate no concentration of capital and industry for the benefit of a single man, no monopoly of labor, no encroachment.
Justice and equite never have been understood.
"Suppose that some spoils, taken from the enemy, and equal to twelve, are to be divided between Achilles and Ajax.If the two persons were equal, their respective shares would be arithmetically equal: Achilles would have six, Ajax six.And if we should carry out this arithmetical equality, Thersites would be entitled to as much as Achilles, which would be unjust in the extreme.To avoid this injustice, the worth of the persons should be estimated, and the spoils divided accordingly.Suppose that the worth of Achilles is double that of Ajax: the former's share is eight, the latter four.There is no arithmetical equality, but a proportional equality.It is this comparison of merits, rationum, that Aristotle calls distributive justice.
It is a geometrical proportion."--Toullier: French Law according to the Code.
Are Achilles and Ajax associated, or are they not? Settle that, and you settle the whole question.If Achilles and Ajax, instead of being associated, are themselves in the service of Agamemnon who pays them, there is no objection to Aristotle's method.The slave-owner, who controls his slaves, may give a double allowance of brandy to him who does double work.That is the law of despotism; the right of slavery.
But if Achilles and Ajax are associated, they are equals.What matters it that Achilles has a strength of four, while that of Ajax is only two? The latter may always answer that he is free;that if Achilles has a strength of four, five could kill him;finally, that in doing personal service he incurs as great a risk as Achilles.The same argument applies to Thersites.If he is unable to fight, let him be cook, purveyor, or butler.If he is good for nothing, put him in the hospital.In no case wrong him, or impose upon him laws.
Man must live in one of two states: either in society, or out of it.In society, conditions are necessarily equal, except in the degree of esteem and consideration which each one may receive.
Out of society, man is so much raw material, a capitalized tool, and often an incommodious and useless piece of furniture.
2.Equite, justice, and society, can exist only between individuals of the same species.They form no part of the relations of different races to each other,--for instance, of the wolf to the goat, of the goat to man, of man to God, much less of God to man.The attribution of justice, equity, and love to the Supreme Being is pure anthropomorphism; and the adjectives just, merciful, pitiful, and the like, should be stricken from our litanies.God can be regarded as just, equitable, and good, only to another God.Now, God has no associate; consequently, he cannot experience social affections,--such as goodness, equite, and justice.Is the shepherd said to be just to his sheep and his dogs? No: and if he saw fit to shear as much wool from a lamb six months old, as from a ram of two years; or, if he required as much work from a young dog as from an old one,--they would say, not that he was unjust, but that he was foolish.
