Book 5 / Chapter 11
Paragraph 3 - Injustice and Moral Vice
Explanation - Part By Part
"It is evident too that both are bad, being unjustly treated and acting unjustly; for the one means having less and the other having more than the intermediate amount, which plays the part here that the healthy does in the medical art, and that good condition does in the art of bodily training."
Aristotle is saying that both being wronged (being unjustly treated) and doing wrong (acting unjustly) are inherently negative. He compares these moral situations to the concept of balance or "intermediacy" in other areas of life, like health or physical fitness. Just as health represents the right balance in medicine and good physical condition represents balance in bodily training, justice involves a balance or fairness in moral actions.
When you're unjustly treated, it's like having "less" than this balanced state (you're missing what should be rightfully yours). On the other hand, when you're acting unjustly, you're taking "more" than your fair share, which also disrupts this balance. Both situations are undesirable because they stray from the harmonious state of fairness and justice that we should aim for.
"But still acting unjustly is the worse, for it involves vice and is blameworthy-involves vice which is either of the complete and unqualified kind or almost so (we must admit the latter alternative, because not all voluntary unjust action implies injustice as a state of character), while being unjustly treated does not involve vice and injustice in oneself."
Here Aristotle is comparing two situations: acting unjustly versus being treated unjustly. He argues that acting unjustly is worse because it reflects a person's moral failure or vice. When someone acts unjustly, it typically shows a flaw in their character—dishonesty, selfishness, or cruelty—and they are responsible for their actions, making them blameworthy. This kind of wrongdoing reflects some form of corruption in the person's ethics or moral state.
However, Aristotle acknowledges that not every act of injustice necessarily means the person at fault possesses a fully wicked or completely corrupt character ("complete and unqualified kind"). Sometimes people commit unjust acts voluntarily without having a deep-rooted flaw—they might act out of impulse, pressure, or momentary weakness. But even in these cases, the person doing injustice bears some responsibility because their action is voluntary.
In contrast, being unjustly treated (being on the receiving end of injustice) does not imply moral failure or vice on the part of the victim. Suffering unfair treatment is not the result of the victim’s own choices or character defects, so they are not blameworthy the way an unjust actor is.
"In itself, then, being unjustly treated is less bad, but there is nothing to prevent its being incidentally a greater evil."
This part means that, on its own, being treated unfairly or unjustly is not as morally damaging or inherently bad as acting unjustly. Acting unjustly reflects a flaw in character or virtue (a vice), making it a deeper issue tied to personal responsibility and morality. However, Aristotle acknowledges that being treated unjustly can sometimes result in greater consequences depending on the situation. For example, while it might not make you morally worse (because you didn’t choose it), the harm it causes could turn out to be more severe, such as losing your livelihood, health, or life as a result of the injustice. It’s not about morality here but about the incidental, practical effects of the injustice.
"But theory cares nothing for this; it calls pleurisy a more serious mischief than a stumble; yet the latter may become incidentally the more serious, if the fall due to it leads to your being taken prisoner or put to death by the enemy."
Aristotle is pointing out that theory or abstract reasoning looks at the inherent severity of things without accounting for specific, situational consequences. For example, pleurisy (a serious inflammation of the lungs) is generally acknowledged as a worse condition than simply stumbling or tripping. However, in particular circumstances, stumbling could lead to something far worse—such as falling, getting captured, or even being executed by your enemies.
This highlights that while theory provides frameworks for understanding, the actual impact of an event depends on the context and its consequences. So while being treated unjustly might seem "less bad" in principle than acting unjustly, its effects could turn out much worse depending on the situation.