Obviously, if, in our pursuit of industrial efficiency, we distort or impinge upon people's lives to the point where their happiness itself is directly compromised, then we have defeated our ultimate purpose, pursuing the means to the end to the point where the means itself obstructs the end. Liquidity of Exchange Similarly, the actual economic exchange of goods and services, which is the central activity of a capitalist economy, is only a means to the end of an improved quality of life. Entire books of philosophy have been written debating the proper way to define Justice. Let's start here, however, with the admittedly imprecise notion that Justice is somehow about making sure that people are rewarded or punished in proportion to the virtue or criminality of their actions. This definition is vague, but it does not need to be more precise.
Justice is merely a means to an end.
This approach will then allow us to define Justice pragmatically, as a means to an end. For example, consider an apparently arbitrary traffic law, that says you must stop at a red light. The reason we make them pay the fine is to discourage people from driving through the light. Of course not. The reason we try to discourage people from doing this is because it is important to guarantee that all drivers obey certain commonly understood codes of behaviour, to avoid traffic accidents at intersections.