Can there be justice for all? To answer this question I must first define what justice is. Justice is “the quality of being just, impartial or fair” in your dealings with others according to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Keeping that definition in mind, I now must turn to the Voices of Wisdom in order to find an example of a situation in which all parties feel that they are being treated justly. After examining examples such as: Euthanasia, discrimination based on sexual orientation, and equal opportunity offered within the book, it becomes clear to me that there is in fact no possible way for there to be justice for all because everyone’s judgement is in some way or another clouded by their own self interests.Euthanasia, people can decide exactly how they want to live but should we as a society allow them the right to decide exactly how they want to die? On the one hand you have the question “is it just to kill someone or allow them to die when help is available?” The obvious answer is no of course not. This is a prime example of why there can be no justice for all, because on the other hand you have the question “is it fair to force someone to live through unbearable pain in anticipation of an agonizing death?” The obvious answer to that question is also no. This is where our self-interests come into play. It is in the patient’s own self interests to die because it will ease her pain, but is not in mine to alleviate her of her life “because death is final and irreversible”, and because “euthanasia contains within it the possibility that [I] will work against [my] own interest if [I] practice it or allow it to be practiced on [others].” (J. Gay-Williams, pp.185). This is why our own self-interests unavoidably will not allow us to have a just society.A society is only as equitable as the treatment accorded its most vulnerable members. ...
