Fairness, Precision and Their Appearances in Aristotle’s Account of Rectificatory Justice

This article offers a new take on Aristotle’s account of rectificatory justice. Through an analysis of the rhetorical and the inferential moves of Nicomachean Ethics V.4–5, it shows how this account functions as both an illustration of and a response to puzzles that arise from the institutional and social circumstances that condition legal justice—specifically, the degree to which legislators and judges who aim at justice for a community must adapt their deliberations to existing public opinion. More specifically, it argues that Aristotle’s account of rectificatory justice emphasizes both the crucial role that an appearance of precise judgements plays in any practicable approach to legal justice, and the fact that this appearance of precision may require some sacrifice of actual precision.