Justice as Repair

One standard story in political philosophy says that reparation is best viewed as supplementary to an ahistorical project of distributive justice. Once we figure out the forward-looking ideal, the argument goes, we can then focus on the necessary reparative interventions to transition us to that ideal state. I argue that this approach is mistaken. Not only do past injustices present barriers to achieving the distributive ideal—they also alter our conception of what counts as perfect justice from a forward-looking standpoint. I offer an alternative approach—justice as repair—that views reparation as a fundamental ideal in the concept of justice and analyze the concept of justice from that perspective.