The Ethical Principle of Justice in the Promotion of the Concept of Human Development

Abstract

Justice is one of the concepts that are most often used in modern Ukrainian political and scientific discourse. The phenomenon of justice is complex and multifaceted and characterizes the entire system of social relations in all the diversity of its specific manifestations in the field of promoting the concept of human development. Since ancient times, justice has been one of the main subjects of scientific research by sociologists, economists, and philosophers of Western and Eastern European countries. Now, there are several interpretations of this notion. One of the most widespread is the definition of justice from the theoretical standpoint of the so-called “transcendental institutionalism”, which is the basis of the works of many famous theoreticians. Within this trend, there are competing points of view regarding approaches to the realization of justice. The concept of utilitarianism, which was widespread in the second half of the 20th century, has its adherents, in respect of the fair content of human development, even in our time. The article defends the logical construction of justice, which is at the intersection of economic theory and moral philosophy. Based on the tradition associated with Adam Smith’s classic political economy, it is grounded on the procedure of public choice, comparison and ranking of priorities. Continuous improvement and regulation of human development processes are oppo sed to the established rigid institutional approach that underlies the contract theory. The aim of the study is to reveal justice as a concept that contains requirements for adequacy of its theoretical interpretation to the practical role regarding individuals upholding their rights. The novelty is substantiating of the constructive significance of justice as an ethical category and the proximity of its democratic procedures to the real-life problems of people, which gives it priority over other similar scientific currents and concepts of liberal democratic orientation. The method of comparative analysis of definitions of social justice in the course of its evolutionary development is applied. Tools for soft modeling of socially fair consumption of goods and services by different income groups of the population are proposed.