In delineating the notion of general or legal justice in Book V of Nicomachean Ethics , Aristotle seems to attribute to the relationship with other people a decisive role. Even virtues, such as liberality, amiability in conversation, or friendship, imply a relationship with others. However, justice seems to be the only virtue for which being exercised towards other people (pros heteron ) is something constitutive and distinctive. The article aims to focus on the specific way in which justice is directed to others, both in relation to the subjects towards whom it is exercised and in relation to the object, i.e. the good it aims at. It will also consider the specific way in which justice achieves what characterizes every ethical virtue, namely being a mean state.
