Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-kw2vx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T09:40:15.151Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

EGALITARIANISM AND WELFARE-STATE REDISTRIBUTION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2002

Daniel Shapiro
Daniel Shapiro
Affiliation:
Philosophy, West Virginia University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A central idea of contemporary philosophical egalitarianism's theory of justice is that involuntary inequalities or disadvantages—those that arise through no choice or fault of one's own—should be minimized or rectified in some way. Egalitarians believe that the preferred institutional vehicle for fulfilling these obligations of justice is some form of a welfare state. Of course, contemporary egalitarians disagree about the best way to interpret or understand their theory of justice and institutions: Which inequalities are chosen and which are unchosen? What form of a welfare state will best serve justice? However, no contemporary egalitarian denies that egalitarian justice requires a welfare state that will redistribute income and wealth to aid the involuntarily disadvantaged.

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Philosophy and Policy , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 1 - 35
Copyright
© 2002 Social Philosophy and Policy Foundation

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)