Mercy and Justice as Civil Virtues in Multicultural Society in Buddhist Perspective
Keywords:
mercy, justice, Buddhism, Aristotle, NussbaumAbstract
Objectives: The objectives of this article are 1) to study and analyze the relationship between mercy and justice as citizen virtues from the Buddhist perspective using Aristotle's concept of eudaimonia, developed by Martha Nusbaum as a framework for the analysis, and 2) to apply the principle of mercy to create justice in a multicultural society.
Methods: The study gathered information from the Tipitaka and commentary. Academic documents related to Buddhism were also analyzed and interpreted with the concepts of Western philosophy.
Results: The study found that mercy is related to justice at the conceptual level, not just at the level of social rules.That is, justice is an important condition which prompts moral emotion (mercy) of the virtuous, but at the same time limits the expression of mercy. However, realizing that everyone desires a prosperous life, every person should be treated equally. When a person is not treated with justice, the virtuous are obligated to create social justice. When applying these two virtues in a multicultural society, mercy plays a role in pursuing social justice by realizing that everyone wants a prosperous life, therefore despite cultural differences, all men should be allowed to participate in the process of developing social justice.
Application of this study: The results of the study can be applied to moral cultivation for the coexistence of people in a multicultural society.
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