The Just: Justified harm is still harm

A decision can be entirely justified and destroy something that was still alive. The same child can be protected by the severing of a bond and lose happy moments through that severing. This essay distinguishes the justness of a move, what it opens or makes possible again, from its legitimacy, the reasons for choosing it. Harm here names a closure or dissolution of the living: its meaning is structural. The remainder is what the decision has taken away and its justification does not restore. Through an interrupted family relationship, legitimate violence, and the cost of institutional repair, the essay follows these effects without canceling them against one another. Recognizing the loss imposes neither remorse nor full repair, and does not invalidate protection. Part of the ontology of passage, The Just revisits and clarifies a difficulty in Le Courage du Réel: a closure can be legitimate while what it closes remains alive.