Abstract：A theory of justice is about one's desert or one's own and constructing adequate social frameworks to ensure that one gets one's own. Different theories of justice disagree on what one's own exactly is. In order to know what one's own is， an ontology of what people are is needed. Justice is not only an “external” social norm， but is also concerned with becoming oneself. This paper explores the ontological foundation of justice starting with contemporary research on personal agency， compares and contrasts two “existential Kantians” of Martin Heidegger and Christine Korsgaard. Korsgaard argues that one gains one's self through justice， but she tights justice and selfhood too closely. Heidegger's account of dasein can be seen as arguing that to exist authentically is to exist as a unified whole， achieving one's own self in the world， which suggests an intimate connection between justice and becoming oneself. This paper proposes to establish an inner connection between theories of justice and existential philosophy， laying out an ontological foundation for constructing theories of justice.
2020, Vol. 59 
