So, these are my notes from my presentation on Wednesday. They’re super boring, but hey my humor comes in the moment when I’m sleep deprived and low on coffee. Enjoy.
- Distributive Justice
- Julian Lamont and Christi Favor
- Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Distributive justice deals with different distributions of benefits and burdens across society
- Distributive justice identifies what is morally preferable and provides moral guidance
- History
- Most people stayed in the economic position they were born into
- Economic benefits and burdens were seen as fixed
- Realized this could be fixed by government
- Now it’s a hot topic
- Changes in policy of any kind affect economic distribution
- Strict egalitarianism
- Calls for the allocation of equal material goods to all members of society
- People are morally equal
- Difference principle
- allows inequality in materials in order to raise the level of the least advantaged in the society
- Luck egalitarianism literature
- Considerate of responsibility and luck
- Equality of opportunity
- Desert-based principle
- People deserve certain economic benefits
- welfare-based principles
- Should be designed and assessed according to how they affect welfare
- Primary moral importance is the level of welfare of people
- libertarian principles
- Conflicts with the more important moral demands of liberty or self-ownership
- Don’t see the market as a means to some desired pattern
- Feminist critiques
- Existing principles ignore the particular circumstances of women
- More sensitive to the fact that women often have primary responsibility for child-rearing and on average, spend less of their lifetimes than men in the market
- Interest in what difference the practical experience of gender makes to the subject matter or study of justice
- Distributive principles
- Vary in what is considered relevant to distributive justice, recipients, on what basis the distribution should be made
- What I found interesting:
- Crucially relevant to current political discussion
- To inform decisions about our societies
- No society conforms to one theory—not realistic
- Recommendation: It’s interesting, but really long and in depth
- Questions:
- Crucially relevant to current political discussion
Readers of this post might compare with Emily SA’s on the same subject.