Save

When Justice Demands Inequality

In: Journal of Moral Philosophy
Authors:
John Thrasher Department of Philosophy, University of Arizona, jthrashe@email.arizona.edu

Search for other papers by John Thrasher in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
and
Keith Hankins Department of Philosophy, University of ArizonaDepartment of Economics, Rutgers University, Hankins@email.arizona.edu

Search for other papers by Keith Hankins in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Download Citation Get Permissions

Access options

Get access to the full article by using one of the access options below.

Institutional Login

Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials

Login via Institution

Purchase

Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

$40.00

In Rescuing Justice and Equality G.A. Cohen argues that justice requires an uncompromising commitment to equality. Cohen also argues, however, that justice must be sensitive to other values, including a robust commitment to individual freedom and to the welfare of the community. We ask whether a commitment to these other values means that, despite Cohen’s commitment to equality, his view requires that we make room for inequality in the name of justice? We argue that even on Cohen’s version of egalitarianism equality, freedom, and welfare are not always compatible. Justice will require trade-offs between these values. Sometimes, equality will need to be sacrificed. This is a surprising result and to show it, we use two informal impossibility proofs drawn from examples in Rescuing Justice and Equality.

Content Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 579 80 9
Full Text Views 265 10 0
PDF Views & Downloads 126 26 0