Luck egalitarianism
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Luck egalitarianism is a view about
Theory
Origins
Theories of luck egalitarianism were foreshadowed by 20th-century philosopher John Rawls' theory of distributive justice in which he observed that a person's skills and abilities led to differential distributive justice outcomes.[3] Rawls argued that this is unfair because one's natural talents or circumstances are morally arbitrary as they have been determined by a "natural lottery" rather than one's own choices.[4] This concern influenced later egalitarians theories of justice, of which, Ronald Dworkin's theory of equality of resources is considered to be the first with clearly luck egalitarian features, although he rejected the label himself.[3] Following Dworkin, Richard Arneson's equality of opportunity for welfare theory and Gerald Cohen's equal access to advantage theory were two of the most prominent early luck egalitarian theories.[5]
Basic principles
Luck egalitarianism is based on the idea that arbitrary factors (such as accidents or illness) should not influence equality, and therefore people should be compensated for undeserved misfortune that impacts their interests.
Criticism
The position is controversial within some currents of egalitarian thought, and the
Global luck egalitarianism
Global luck egalitarianism is a view about distributive justice at the global level associated with cosmopolitan moral theory. It starts from the premise that it is a bad thing for some people to be worse off than others through no fault of their own and applies this intuition across borders. Global luck egalitarians characteristically believe that moral agents may have duties to mitigate the brute luck of distant others. Proponents of this school of thought are amongst others Simon Caney and arguably Charles Beitz; opponents, most of whom reject the above premise either in its entirety or with respect to inequalities in which one party's welfare is at least above some minimum level, include Robert Nozick.
Advocates
Prominent advocates of luck egalitarianism have included
References
- ^ ISBN 978-3-031-24369-1.
- ^ Parfit 1984.
- ^ a b Knight 2013.
- ^ Rawls 1999.
- ^ Allingham 2014.
- ^ Anderson 1999.
Bibliography
- Allingham, Michael (2014). Distributive justice. New York: Routledge. pp. 53–55. OCLC 857966361.
- Anderson, Elizabeth S. (1999-01-01). "What Is the Point of Equality?". Ethics. 109 (2): 287–337. JSTOR 10.1086/233897.
- Knight, Carl (2013). "Luck Egalitarianism" (PDF). Philosophy Compass. 8 (10): 924–934. .
- Parfit, Derek (1984). Reasons and Persons. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780198249085.
- Rawls, John (1999). A theory of justice (Revised ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 63–64. OCLC 41266156.
Further reading
- G. A. Cohen, "On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice", Ethics (1989), pp. 906–944.
- Richard Arneson, "Equality and Equal Opportunity for Welfare", Philosophical Studies (1989), pp. 77–93.
- Ronald Dworkin, Sovereign Virtue (2000).
- Elizabeth S. Anderson, "What is the Point of Equality?" Ethics (1999), pp. 287–337.
- Susan L. Hurley, Justice, Luck and Knowledge (2003).
- Alexander Kaufman, "Choice, Responsibility and Equality", Political Studies 52 (2004): 819–836.
- Alexander Brown, "Luck Egalitarianism and Democratic Equality", Ethical Perspectives 12, no. 3 (2005): 293–339.
- Shlomi Segall, "In Solidarity with the Imprudent: A Defense of Luck Egalitarianism", Social Theory and Practice, Vol. 33, no. 2 (April 2007).
- Kristin Voigt, "The Harshness Objection: Is Luck Egalitarianism Too Harsh on the Victims of Option Luck?" Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 10 (2007): 389–407.
- Carl Knight, Luck Egalitarianism: Equality, Responsibility, and Justice (Edinburgh University Press, 2009).
- Christian Schemmel, "On The Usefulness Of Luck Egalitarian Arguments For Global Justice", Global justice: Theory practice rhetoric (1) 2007: 54–67.
- Alexander Brown, Ronald Dworkin's Theory of Equality: Domestic and Global Perspectives (Palgrave, 2009).