What Is the Point of Political Equality

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10696469
AutoresDaniel Wodak (0000-0001-8797-1106, University of Pennsylvania, LSR Visiting Fellow at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen133
Número4
Páginas367-413
Fecha de publicación2024-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Philosophical Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0031-8108 • E-ISSN: 1558-1470
EditorialDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/00318108-11497679
OpenAlexW4405306011
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas74

Political egalitarians hold that there is a distinct ideal of political equality, which defines and justifies democracy. So what is political equality? The orthodox view says it is equality of opportunity for political influence, not equality of political influence. The first goal of this article is to argue against this view about the nature of political equality. From 1962 to 1983, Australia’s First Nations citizens had the right to vote, but unlike other citizens they did not have the duty to vote. First Nations citizens were made politically unequal without being given any less opportunity for influence; the most plausible explanation for why they were made politically unequal is instead that they were made to exert less influence. The second goal is to use this challenge to illuminate the point of political equality. The orthodox view is typically undergirded by taking political equality to be concerned with some cosmic injustice that inheres in states of affairs, depending on the distribution of power. This is doubly mistaken. The point of political equality is deontic, not telic; and what it prescribes is not distributive, but relational. More specifically, the point of political equality is for the state to treat each citizen as an equal coauthor of the law. The overarching goal is to catalyze a more vigorous debate about political equality, akin to the long-standing debates about other dimensions of equality

Analytic philosophy · Contemporary philosophy · Epistemology · General interest · Geometry · Point (geometry) · Political science · Politics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Social Policy and Reform Studies