Abstract

800x600 One of the most important political challenges of our time - indeed of all times - is social justice. It was first addressed as a philosophical issue in Plato's great dialogue, the _Republic_, and it has been a continuing theme in the "tradition of discourse" ever since. As I will argue, Plato's analysis and conclusions represent a sound foundation and a starting point for advancing a new social justice paradigm that is undergirded by the emerging, multi-disciplinary science of human nature, which is briefly overviewed here. I refer to it as a "biosocial contract," and it involves three empirically-grounded fairness precepts - _equality, equity, _and _reciprocity_ -- that together form a new normative framework for guiding social policy. The obvious logical objection to such a normative undertaking, commonly referred to as the "naturalistic fallacy," is briefly considered from the perspective of the biological problem of survival and reproduction and the fundamental nature of a human society as, quintessentially, a "collective survival enterprise." Logic aside, the reality is that we are all required to make unavoidable choices. Normal 0 false false false EN-AU X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4