Justice as Fairness: Moral Values in Glottodidactics

Abstract

The present study, devoted to the complex theme of moral values and valuation, focuses on the concept of justice understood as fairness, the virtue of special importance in teacher’s work. Fairness is the basic principle in the existence and coexistence of all human societies, including school and academic communities. Emphasized here is the uniqueness and interdisciplinarity of the Polish school of glottodidactics that has built its theoretical foundations on anthropological facts. The argument is based on the assumption that fixed human nature determines the objective and invariable hierarchy of values. A thorough analysis is offered of various philosophical attempts at formulating a universal hierarchy of moral values in relation to human nature. A need of updating the reflection on values is postulated, particularly with reference to the sense of justice, as its interpretations should be based on more rigorous theoretical foundations. An attempt is made in this direction by evoking the central claims of John Rawls’ Theory of Justice, a multidimensional explication of the natural human capacity to develop a sense of justice. Finally, far-reaching practical implications of treating justice as fairness are offered for the (glotto)didactic work of the teacher.