Social Order and Justice: An

Social Order and Justice: An Exploration of Adaptability and Applicability The idea of implied social order dates back to the earliest civilizations. Order and justice were used as concepts to help structure society, and as people began to develop technologically and culturally, the ideas of personal and social order began to diverge to the points they are at today. Personal order and justice may not mean the same thing to everyone as social order and justice.

What is good for the individual is not always good for the whole of society, and vice versa. Without a doubt, there have been points in history where social and personal order and justice have converged and diverged. Depending on the situation, order and justice can be defined in many different ways according to different people and different necessities. AS old as the stories may be, there are still many relevant modern-day conclusions that can be draw from both.

The parallels that the authors as well as the characters in the stories feel are uncanny and help to drive readers to their own conclusions about the relationship between personal and social justice and order. Sophecles's Electra is a story about deceit, murder, and personal order and justice. The central character fakes his own death in order to vie for the throne.

After his intentions are revealed, and his family finds out he is really alive, they begin to reconstruct their surroundings by killing another person and trying to pass the body as Orestes. In this story, the idea of personal order and justice is explored. Orestes and his partners in the plot lie and deceive his own family members in order to maintain social order. In their own judgment this is justified in order to reach the throne. As Machiavellian as it seems, for Orestes, the ends justify the means.

This is one example of how personal justice and order overcome the social morals and order of the day. The Art of War, written more than two thousand five hundred years ago, is another exercise in personal justice and order. Just as Orestes adapted his story and actions to the changing plot of the story in Electra, author Sun Tzu argues that war strategy is important, but not because it involves careful planning.

Tzu argues that strategy is important in that a successful general or leader can and will adapt to changing conditions on the battlefield, and that the art of war is more about adaptability and the risks and opportunities that come with the constant and dynamic nature of warfare than it is about careful planning and preparation. This is not to say that the latter two actions are useless, by Tzu sees more value in flexibility and cunning than he does in immobility and inflexibility.

Both works illustrate how personal and social justice differ from each other. They also point out that personal order is often a concept that lacks true definition, at least as time goes by. A successful person, whether in war or in their family life, learns to adapt to changing situations and scenarios, putting aside social order and justice in favor of a much more relevant, functional personal definition of order and justice.

Just as normal, everyday situations require people to adapt their own thinking and ideas of social order in order to survive and thrive, situations involving personal gain, deceit, and the art and practice of war require the same. Both authors conjure up deep emotions in their readers as they put questions of honesty, loyalty, and personal sacrifice to the test. The current societal norms and.