368 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
the persistence of individuals in association is accordingly an element never to be eliminated from formulas of societary reactions.
XIV. Justice. It may be impossible to give so clear an account of this incident that its distinctness from the foregoing will be apparent ; but the following is a first step toward that end : Equality, as we used the term under the last head, is a concept of absolute values. Justice is a concept of proportion among absolutes, or, to be more exact, among values previously treated by abstraction as absolute. Crusoe and Friday are equal in actuality of conscious interests. Both want to live, to eat, to keep warm, to sleep, to escape pain, to rejoin kinsmen, to satisfy curiosity, and to profit by each other's cooperation. They are unequal in diversity of desires, and in perception of means likely to satisfy them. It would be a violation of the condition of equality on Crusoe's part if he should wantonly inflict bodily pain on Friday. It would also violate justice, but not for the same reason. It would be no violation of the con- dition of equality if Crusoe inflicted enough bodily pain on Friday to compel him to do his share in defending both against enemies. On the contrary, if Friday persisted in wasting the supply of gunpowder for the sake of amusement, while Crusoe's prudence foresaw that Friday's amusement would cost both their lives, justice would demand an equation of desires. With- out denying to Friday the right to be Friday, to think Friday's thoughts, to want Friday's wants, Crusoe may assert his right to be Crusoe, to think Crusoe's thoughts, to want Crusoe's wants. So far equality is satisfied. But if there comes to be a conflict of thought and of want between Crusoe and Friday, it at once appears that there are relativities among interests and among conceptions of ways to satisfy interests. It appears also that there are dependencies between Crusoe and Friday. Each not only needs* the other, but each may so act as to sacrifice the other's welfare entirely. Given, then, an absolute value in .each contending person, how shall the conflict be reconciled ? The equation between persons, so as to respect their equality of right to be persons, so as to adjust the proportionality of their
