Equality, Priority, and Distributional Judgements

S. Subramanian ()
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S. Subramanian: Independent Scholar

Chapter Chapter 6 in Social Values and Social Indicators, 2021, pp 57-70 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The present essay undertakes an assessment of the substantive significance of Derek Parfit’s distinction between Prioritarianism and Egalitarianism. In providing a brief critique of Parfit’s arguments, the essay draws on the author’s own earlier work and that of Thomas Christiano and Will Braynen, John Broome, and Marc Fleurbaey. It considers issues relating to the ‘Levelling Down Objection’, the ‘Divided World example’, and the distinction between ‘absolute’ and ‘relative’ valuations of individual benefit. It is contended that ‘levelling down’ presents a difficulty only for ‘Pure Telic Egalitarianism’, not for ‘Pluralist Telic Egalitarianism’; that one can have an Egalitarian rationalization for favouring equality in the distribution of a smaller sum of well-being over inequality in the distribution of a larger sum even in a ‘Divided World’; and that, while a particular ‘absolute’/‘relative’ dichotomy is relevant for a particular ‘distribution-invariance’/‘distribution-sensitivity’ dichotomy, the resulting distinction is useful for differentiating two types of Egalitarian rather than for differentiating a non-Egalitarian principle such as Prioritarianism from Egalitarianism.

Keywords: Prioritarianism; Egalitarianism; Levelling Down Objection; Divided world example; Additively separable welfare function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:thechp:978-981-16-0428-7_6

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-0428-7_6

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