The concept of fairness, in my opinion, is somehow defined by the concept of empathy through some searches by Daniel Goleman in his book Social Intelligence. The book deals with scientific measurement through MRI. Ethic and Moral are also trying to define what is fair. Can you give me some hint achieving a definition of what is fair? i.e. why killing people, slavery, exploiting are not fair stuff?
Is there a scientific definition of fairness?
social psychology
I'd say that 'fairness' would be best treated as a narrow concept not encompassing the whole of empathy/ethics/morals, otherwise the term ceases to be specific and useful. I.e., something could be perceived as both cruel/evil but still fair/just; and harsh 'eye for eye' style punishments are perceived as fair in some cultures but still require some disconnect of empathy.I believe that experiments of Kahneman and others such as the Dictator game are a good place to start - as this way can measure [an aspect of] fairness in a somewhat objective way and observe how the concept of fairness is different for different cultures.