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The Faces of Injustice

Judith Shklar

Justice / political judgment

It deepens any route on justice by flipping the usual question, asking what we miss when we theorize from the standpoint of order rather than the wronged.

Synopsis

An argument that political theory has overemphasized justice and neglected the lived experience of injustice and the victim's own sense of being wronged.

Core passage idea

Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted work

We should take seriously the victim's perception of injustice rather than dismissing every grievance as mere misfortune we owe nothing for.

It insists that what counts as injustice is partly a moral and political judgment, not a fixed line separating bad luck from wrong.

To avoid a bubble

Pair with John Rawls, A Theory of Justice.

Reading note

Read it alongside standard theories of justice to feel the contrast Shklar is pressing.

Best paired with

John Rawls, A Theory of Justice

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