Equality as Comparative Fairness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23137482 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Larry S Temkin (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, corresponding author), Larry Temkin (Department of Philosophy Rutgers University 06 Somerset St, 5th Floor New Brunswick NJ 08901 USA) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 43-60 |
| Publication date | 2017-02-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Applied Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0264-3758 • E-ISSN: 1468-5930 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/japp.12140 |
| OpenAlex | W1507343048 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
The goal of this article is modest. It is simply to help illuminate the nature of egalitarianism. More particularly, I aim to show what certain egalitarians are committed to, and to suggest that equality, as these egalitarians understand it, is an important normative ideal that cannot simply be ignored in moral deliberations. In doing this, I distinguish between equality as universality, equality as impartiality, and equality as comparability, and also between instrumental and non‐instrumental egalitarianism. I then characterise the version of egalitarianism with which I am concerned, which I call equality as comparative fairness. I discuss the relations between equality, fairness, luck, and responsibility, and defend egalitarianism against rival views that focus on subsistence, sufficiency, or compassion. I also defend egalitarianism against the L evelling D own and R aising U p O bjections, and present several key examples to illustrate egalitarianism's distinct appeal, in contrast to prioritarianism's. I conclude by considering two common questions about my view: first, whether my ultimate concern is really with comparative fairness, rather than equality, so that my view is not, in fact, a substantive, non‐instrumental version of egalitarianism, and second, whether my view ultimately reduces to a theory about desert.
Appeal · Economics · Egalitarianism · Epistemology · Impartiality · Law and economics · Normative · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Free Will and Agency · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology · Social Psychology
A Dilemma for Luck Egalitarians
The Ethics of Policing and Imprisonment
Why the All-Affected Principle Is Groundless
Why not More Equality? Sufficientarianism and Inequalities above the Threshold
Harsh and Disrespectful
Sufficiency and Satiable Values
Why inequality matters
Why not be a desertist?
Strokes of Luck
Moral Luck and Unfair Blame
Intuition about Justice
Total lockdown and fairness towards the sufferer
Fairness, Care, and Abortion
Equality, Proportionality, and the All-Affected Principle
Le principe de différence, le socialisme et l’écologie
What Is the Point of the Harshness Objection
A market failures approach to justice in health
Allocative Fairness
Some Remarks on Equality in Health and Health Care
| Citations per year | 1.9 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2016 - 2026 (11) |
| Highly cited | No |