Abstract

Justice is one of the most familiar and, at the same time, most complex concepts which, in spite of the existing belief in its beauty and necessity, has aroused extensive discussions in the history of thought.The ambiguity of this concept and the problems associated with its application to the related referents have caused such theoretical and practical limitations at times that man has been forced to either refute all doubts concerning the necessity and beauty of justice through rational justifications, or try to revise his explanation of its nature through expanding its conceptual meaning.This paper presents the ideas of three prominent philosophers of the nature of justice: Plato, Aristotle and Ravelz. The differences between Greek philosophers and Ravels on the moral bases of justice have aroused a series of other differences whose effects could be witnessed in Ravelz's concept of social justice.By posing the topic of 'From Individual Justice to Social Justice' the author is trying to prove that the affirmation of the former is necessary for the realization of the latter.