Reply to Masterson

Extract

Masterson criticizes my argument concerning the incoherence of the principle of equality of opportunity on three grounds: (a) that I assume that ‘if a principle cannot be effected absolutely it must be discarded as a principle’ (p. 2), whereas he claims that so long as one can move in the direction of realizing the principle, then it can be a tenable working principle; (b) that I seem to believe that if a principle can be overruled by another principle in particular cases, it ceases to be a valid principle (p. 3); and (c) that I assume that a principle must apply to all cases, whereas he claims that a principle could be formulated so as not to apply to all cases (p. 5).