DIREITO, IGUALDADE E ALTERIDADE COMO ELEMENTOS DA JUSTIÇA EM TOMÁS DE AQUINO

Abstract

This paper intends to approach Saint Thomas Aquinas’ thought concerning justice, based mainly on the questions 57 and 58 of the Second Part of the Second Part of the Summa Theologiae, having as its hypothesis the idea that right, equality and alterity are constitutive elements of Thomistic justice. The paper approaches, initially, the Thomistic proposition that right is the object of justice, and investigates the meaning of the word right (ius) in Aquinas. It then treats equality as the measure of the just, and exposes the concept of justice formulated by Aquinas, as being a disposition of rendering to each one his due. Lastly it approaches Aquinas’ arguments to demonstrate that justice is something necessarily towards another, also pointing that the Thomistic justice is founded on the principle of love of our neighbor.