Epicurus on justice and injustice

The Philosophy Garden: Stoicism and Beyond

“The justice that seeks nature’s goal is a utilitarian pledge of men not to harm each other or be harmed.

Nothing is either just or unjust in the eyes of those animals that have been unable to make agreements not to harm each other or be harmed. …

Justice was never an entity in itself. It is a kind of agreement not to harm or be harmed.

It is impossible for a person who underhandedly breaks the agreement not to harm or be harmed to feel sure that he will escape punishment, even though he manages to do so time after time; for up to the very end of his life he cannot be sure that he will actually escape.

In its general meaning, justice is the same for all because of its utility in the relations of men to each other, but in its specific application to countries and various other circumstances it does not follow that the same thing is just for all.

If somebody lays down a law and it does not prove to be of advantage in human relations, then such a law no longer has the true character of justice.”

(Leading Doctrines, 31-38)

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