a critical evaluation on the concept of justice in planning process

similar and replaceable, the difference of justice from law has been ignored. The aspect
of law that is different from and more comprehensive than law is the fact that it is a
superior aspiration, a fundamental idea showing the best and most accurate solution and
a virtue 6 (Aybay&Aybay;2003;70).
A more comprehensive justice definition can be found in a Turkish philosophy
dictionary 7 . In this definition here the law, legal and state dimensions of the justice
concept (that is the dimension related to formal process) and also the moral and ethic
dimensions are stressed. While the concept of justice is synonymous for the terms
equality, right, interest / benefits, freedom/liberty, and ethic, these concepts are in fact
subtitles concepts referred to in the explanation of justice.
It is seen that justice concept involves different meanings and contexts in the
terrains of religion, law, legislation, individual thought and behaviors 8 . The
classifications of justice types vary according to the terrain it is used in 9 . In these
various classifications it is not always possible to come to an agreement on what justice
is, and how it is to be defined. Various definitions of justice and different theoretical
frames also point at this.
Except for the differences in theoretical and definitional efforts, there arise many
different views about what sort of behaviors will be more just. Differences also occur in
practice. These variations in views can be explained by the tendency of justice to obtain
different contexts according to the feelings, vision, intuition and cultural economic and
social condition of the person. The reason of the changing of the justice definitions and
6 Aybay&Aybay declares that departing from virtue and justice will turn the law into a mechanical tool.
Therefore, they reveal that just because of this reason law put the concept of justice into its centre as the
highest value that should be realized (Aybay&Aybay; 2003; p.70).
7 “It is the state of putting the values, principles, ideals and values into the social life as materials and in a
concrete form. It is the state of everybody confronting with the reward or with the punishment they
deserve. Justice appears in front of us as a thought examining and criticizing the human behaviour from
the viewpoint of ethics, as an ethic principle basing on respect to justice and right, and as right, honesty,
neutrality and as an expression of the highest, objective and absolute value. Within this frame, justice is
understand as the state and condition where a harmony occurs between the rights of a person and rights of
others (society'’, public'’, government'’ or individual'’) is the state of being in appropriate with the rights
and laws and is a condition where the state should form a balance in appropriate with rights of different,
even opposing groups (Cevizci, 1996; p.11). In another definition tüze is defined as “the protection of the
right, the good and the just” (Hançerlio lu, 1982; p.423).
8 Çeçen (1993) The aim of Çeçen’s work named as “Concept of Justice”(Adalet Kavramı) is determined
as the display of the relativity of the concept. For this purpose, a very detailed work is done about the law
and justice relation, pluralism of justice concepts and various definitions which justice concept involves.
9 Justice typologies emphasized on different terrain and priority are as follow; regulatory, distributional
(Akta , S.; 2001;pp.:187-191) or “improving”, “retortionary” justice (Cevizci, A.;1996; pp.: 11;121;132;
261;367) .
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