ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Reinhold Niebuhr provides us a rich context for thinking about what such a virtue might look like and provides a particularly useful framework for thinking about what the virtue of justice may require in the light of the political catastrophes we see developing around us. It also argues that in terms of Niebuhrian virtue, justice is best conceived of as a disposition to correctly judge when and how one should support a position in the midst of political conflict. The chapter shows how human rebellion re-shapes the possibilities for judgment while maintaining that Niebuhr did not see this as foreclosing on the space for judgment. The chapter argues that Niebuhr’s thought provides us with a relatively developed picture of concerns that influence the shape of judgment. It discusses the issue of the virtue of justice in contemporary politics to ask whether Niebuhr’s biography is coherent with the picture of the virtue of judgment.
