Liberal Egalitarianism and the Harm Principle
نویسندگان
چکیده
This paper analyses Rawlss celebrated di¤erence principle, and its lexicographic extension, in societies with a nite and an in nite number of agents. A uni ed framework of analysis is set up, which allows one to characterise Rawlsian egalitarian principles by means of a weaker version of a new axiom the Harm Principle recently proposed by [13]. This is quite surprising, because the Harm principle is meant to capture a liberal requirement of noninterference and it incorporates no obvious egalitarian content. A set of new characterisations of the maximin and of its lexicographic re nement are derived, including in the intergenerational context with an in nite number of agents. JEL classi cation. D63 (Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement); D70 (Analysis of Collective DecisionMaking); Q01 (Sustainable development). Keywords. Di¤erence principle, leximin, weak harm principle, in nite
منابع مشابه
Karsten Klint Jensen the Moral Foundation of the Precautionary Principle
The Commission’s recent interpretation of the Precautionary Principle is used as starting point for an analysis of the moral foundation of this principle. The Precautionary Principle is shown to have the ethical status of an amendment to a liberal principle to the effect that a state only may restrict a person’s actions in order to prevent unacceptable harm to others. The amendment allows for r...
متن کاملChapter Five Cracked Foundations of Liberal Equality*
Introduction Liberal egalitarianism is a variant of liberal political philosophy that emphasizes the obligation of society to enable its most poor and disadvantaged members to lead decent lives. Liberal egalitarianism fuses the traditional liberal theme of individual freedom and autonomy and a more radical theme of equal life prospects for all. Today the two foremost proponents of liberal egali...
متن کاملDemocratic Equality and Responsibility: the Opportunity Costs of Primary Goods
This thesis first critically analyzes John Rawls’s second principle of justice as a democratic conception of equality and the challenge posed to that conception by Ronald Dworkin’s ‘Equality of Resources.’ Democratic equality is defended over luck egalitarianism as an articulation of liberal egalitarianism. However, where Rawls deems social primary goods to be unconditionally regulated by insti...
متن کاملTaxing unhealthy choices: The complex idea of liberal egalitarianism in health.
Under the heading of liberal egalitarianism, Cappelen and Norheim present a novel approach regarding how we are to assess health disadvantages reflecting people's choices. It seeks to uphold a commitment to principles of responsibility and egalitarianism, while avoiding objections that such theories fail for humanitarian, liberal or fairness reasons. The approach draws a line between those of s...
متن کاملMEDICAL ETHICS Responsibility in health care: a liberal egalitarian approach
Lifestyle diseases constitute an increasing proportion of health problems and this trend is likely to continue. A better understanding of the responsibility argument is important for the assessment of policies aimed at meeting this challenge. Holding individuals accountable for their choices in the context of health care is, however, controversial. There are powerful arguments both for and agai...
متن کامل