UTILITARIAN, LIBERALIST AND COMMUNITARIAN APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING THE ETHICO-LEGAL NATURE OF JUSTICE

Abstract

In the process of analyzing different approaches to interpreting the nature of justice, it is shown that from the position of utilitarianism, justice is defined as the maximization of aggregate utility in a society, where the distribution of benefits and punishments is fair to the extent that it contributes to the achievement of this greatest good for the greatest number of people. Within the liberal approach, the emphasis is typically on individual rights, freedom, and equality of all people, where justice is often associated with ensuring these rights and freedoms. In turn, communitarianism focuses on the importance of community, traditions, and social ties. From the point of view of communitarians, justice cannot exist outside the context of a community and is closely linked to the cultural and historical characteristics of society, to collective values and shared practices.Considerations about the nature of justice are extremely important in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, as it involves issues related to: – restoration of the violated legal order (international law, territorial integrity of Ukraine and basic human rights); – the responsibility of the aggressor for the destruction caused (payment of reparations, punishment of those guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression); – Russia’s responsibility for genocidal policies and the violent change of Ukrainian identity; – implementing corrective (retributive) justice – after the war, the enormous task of rebuilding the country and fairly distributing resources will arise, primarily to meet the needs of the military and their families, as well as internally displaced and affected persons; – the restoration of dignity and rights, as well as the return home of all Ukrainian citizens and prisoners of war forcibly deported by the Russian occupiers; – reforming the international legal order to make it impossible for the aggressor to evade responsibility in the future and to provide reliable security guarantees; – overcoming trauma and healing social wounds, restoring trust and ensuring social unity.