Philosophical QuestionClaim: It is more importantfor society to be lawful thanto be fair.

Counterclaim: It is more
important for society to be
fair than to be lawful.

Argument Lawful societies are stable
and just because the laws
apply to everyone equally.

Fair societies promote
justice for everyone at all
times because fairness
cannot be legislated away.

Evidence of argument “All lawful acts are in a
sense just acts; for the acts
laid down by the legislative
art are lawful, and each of
these, we say, is just.”
Aristotle in Nicomachean
Ethics (Ross (translator) 1).

Unlike law which are a set
of rules, fairness is a natural
human quality.

Counterargument Civil laws can be unjust in
the sense of promoting
unfairness against some

Unlike law, fairness is a
subjective concept with
different people having

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people or groups of people
thus threatening their basic
rights, such as right to life,
liberty, and property.

different notions of what is
fair and what is not fair.
According to Konow,
“fairness is in the eyes of the
beholder” (Konow 237).

Evidence of
counterargument

The Nuremberg Laws, and
the American slave codes
and Jim Crow laws that
denied Jews and African
Americans citizenship rights
respectively were both
unfair laws that perpetuated
injustice against minority
groups in German and
American societies.

Self-interest makes
application of fairness
difficult.

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Works Cited

Konow, James. “Is Fairness in the Eye of the Beholder? ¹.” Empirical Research and
Normative Theory: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Two Methodical Traditions
Between Separation and Interdependence (2020): 237.
Ross, W.D. Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle.