Abstract

Citing Alasdair MacIntyre, Goodman acknowledges that all rational enquiry is embodied in a tradition. The author makes explicit the tradition in which he chooses to work. It is a tradition grounded in the Torah and developed through the ages by the Spinozas and Mendelssohns of every period. Yet Goodman is a philosopher, and though he may speak with a distinctive accent, his outlook is one that can be embraced by anyone who is convinced that justice is not a matter of convention but is grounded in the very nature of things. Divided into six chapters, the book offers first a general theory of objective justice and then chapter-length reflections on punishment, recompense, natural justice, messianism, and immortality.