Broome's Theory of Fairness and the Problem of Quantifying the Strengths of Claims

James R. Kirkpatrick and Nick Eastwood

Utilitas, 2015, vol. 27, issue 1, 82-91

Abstract: John Broome argues that fairness requires that claims are satisfied in proportion to their strength. Broome holds that, when distributing indivisible goods, fairness requires the use of weighted lotteries as a surrogate to satisfy proportionally each candidate's claims. In this article, we present two arguments against Broome's account of fairness. First, we argue that it is almost impossible to calculate the weights of the lotteries in accordance with the requirements of fairness. Second, we argue that Broome rules out those methods whose use might provide some resolution to this problem. From these arguments, we conclude that, contra Broome, fairness does not require the proportional satisfaction of claims.

Date: 2015
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