[17] It may also be pointed out to the pupil that a part of the task of
intellectual and moral training, which originally belongs entirely to
the parents, has by them been intrusted to the teachers, and that
something of the reverence which belongs to the former is now due to the
latter.
[18] Do not quarrel over your respective rights; rather be more eager to
secure the rights of your brother than your own. Do not triumph in your
brother's disgrace or taunt him with his failings, but rather seek to
build up his self-respect. Help one another in your tasks, etc.
XIV.
DUTIES TOWARD ALL MEN.
JUSTICE AND CHARITY.
JUSTICE.--The subject of justice is a difficult one to treat. Justice in
the legal sense is to be distinguished from justice in the moral sense.
We are concerned only with the latter. How much of it can we hope to
include in such a course of instruction as this? We can, I think,
explain the essential principle and give a few of its most important
applications. What is this principle? Human society is an organism, and
the perfection of it depends upon the degree to which the parts related
are differentiated. Unity of organization is the end, differentiation is
the means. The serving of universal ends is the aim, the emphasizing of
individuality the means. The principle which underlies the laws of
justice I take to be respect for individuality of others. And this may
be expressed in the rule, Respect the individuality of every human
being. It might, indeed, appear at first sight as if justice had to do
only with those points in which all men are alike, and took no notice of
the differences that subsist between them. Thus justice enjoins respect
for the life of others; and in regard to this all men are exactly on a
par, all men are equally entitled to live. But justice also commands us
to respect the convictions of others, however different they may be from
our own. And it is but a finer sense of justice which keeps us from
intruding on the privacy of others, which leads us to show a proper
consideration for the ways and idiosyncrasies of others, and in general
to refrain from encroaching on the personality of others. The principle
of justice may also be expressed in the rule, Do not interfere with the
individual development of any one.
APPLICATIONS OF THE PRINCIPLE OF JUSTICE.--
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