When do Risky Choices Justify Inequality?

• Authors: Hyams Keith
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Luck egalitarianism is the view that inequalities are justified when and only when a particular condition is met. Recent years have seen considerable debate about the exact nature of the risky choices thought by luck egalitarians to justify inequality. All positions in the debate emphasise the importance of choice, but they differ in the precise details of how choice features in the inequality-justifying condition. The present paper argues for a novel view about the conditions under which risky choices should justify choice in a manner that uncovers ambiguity and flaws in existing positions. It rejects existing accounts and develops a new hypothetical choice based account of inequality-justifying risk.

Keywords

EN

luck egalitarianism; equality; risk; choice; disadvantage; inequality; chance; uncertainty

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii - Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Journal: Diametros
• Year: 2017
• Issue: 53
• Pages: 60-74

Dates

published

2017-09

Contributors

author

Hyams Keith

• University of Warwick

References

• Anderson E. (1999), “What Is the Point of Equality?” Ethics 109 (1): 287–337.
• Arneson R. (1989), “Equality and Equal Opportunity for Welfare,” Philosophical Studies 56 (1): 77–93.
• Arneson R. (2007), “Does Social Justice Matter? Brian Barry’s Applied Political Philosophy,” Ethics 117 (3): 391–412.
• Cohen G.A. (1989), “On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice,” Ethics 99 (4): 906–944.
• Cohen G.A. (2008), Rescuing Justice and Equality, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA).
• Dworkin R. (2000), Sovereign Virtue, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA).
• Eyal N. (2007), “Egalitarian Justice and Innocent Choice,” Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 2 (1): 1–18.
• Lippert-Rasmussen K. (2001), “Egalitarianism, Option Luck, and Responsibility,” Ethics 111 (3): 548–579.
• Olsaretti S. (2004), Liberty, Desert and the Market, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Otsuka M. (2002), “Luck, Insurance and Equality,” Ethics 113 (1): 40–54.
• Otsuka M. (2004), “Equality, Ambition, and Insurance,” Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 78 (1): 151–166.
• Roemer J.E. (1998), Equality of Opportunity, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA).
• Vallentyne P. (2002), “Brute Luck, Option Luck, and Equality of Initial Opportunities,” Ethics 112 (3): 529–557.
• White S. (2003), The Civil Minimum, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Identifiers

DOI

10.13153/diam.53.0.1101