Justice as Fairness: Luck Egalitarian, Not Rawlsian

The Journal of Ethics 14 (3-4):217-230 (2010)
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Abstract

I assess G. A. Cohen's claim, which is central to his luck egalitarian account of distributive justice, that forcing others to pay for people's expensive indulgence is inegalitarian because it amounts to their exploitation. I argue that the forced subsidy of such indulgence may well be unfair, but any such unfairness fails to ground an egalitarian complaint. I conclude that Cohen's account of distributive justice has a non-egalitarian as well as an egalitarian aspect. Each impulse arises from an underlying commitment to fairness. Cohen's account of distributive justice is therefore one of justice as fairness

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Michael Otsuka
Rutgers - New Brunswick

Citations of this work

Choices Chance and Change: Luck Egalitarianism Over Time.Patrick Tomlin - 2013 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 16 (2):393-407.
G. A. Cohen on exploitation.Nicholas Vrousalis - 2014 - Politics, Philosophy and Economics 13 (2):151-164.
Luck egalitarianism without moral tyranny.Jesse Spafford - 2021 - Philosophical Studies 179 (2):469-493.

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References found in this work

Anarchy, State, and Utopia.Robert Nozick - 1974 - New York: Basic Books.
Rescuing Justice and Equality.G. A. Cohen (ed.) - 2008 - Harvard University Press.
Anarchy, State, and Utopia.Robert Nozick - 1974 - Philosophy 52 (199):102-105.
Exploitation.Alan Wertheimer - 1996 - Princeton University Press.

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