Finding Equity: Virtues That Enable the Truth of Justice

Abstract: This article examines the Thomistic conception of equity ( aequitas ) and its implications for contemporary debates on justice, particularly racial justice. While modern discourse often employs equity ambiguously, Thomas Aquinas provides a structured, twofold framework integrating equity not only as the virtue of epieikeia , but within the broader context of distributive justice. Aquinas’s insights emphasize that equitable judgment must account for human rights and historical conditions. Furthermore, discussions of equity require attention to diverse social structures, including but not limited to modern democratic frameworks. Ultimately, Aquinas’s account, grounded in divine wisdom, demonstrates that any appeal to justice or equity presupposes an underlying moral order, offering a foundational perspective for addressing modern concerns of racial justice. Yet, finding equity in contentious racial disputes demands another essential prerequisite: virtue. The virtues and vices Aquinas highlights reveal the moral conditions that enable or thwart the search for genuine equity.