Luck Egalitarianism Essay

Luck egalitarianism is the name of a group of egalitarian theories of distributive justice. They all share the view that the main aim of equality is to correct the inequalities in the distribution of goods that has come about as a result of brute luck. Luck egalitarians make a distinction between ‘‘option luck’’ and ‘‘brute luck.’’ A just distribution of some good should compensate people who are at a disadvantage as a result of ‘the natural order’, such as being born with a disability. For the outcomes of brute luck, luck egalitarianism prescribes that all good fortune be equally shared. ‘‘Good fortune’’ comes in the form of natural goods such as fresh water, fossil fuels, fertile land, and the opportunities and earnings potential of the naturally talented, and so on. They accept as just any inequalities brought about by the voluntary choices of …show more content…
Welfarists about equality reply that people only value resources to the extent to which they contribute to their welfare. Moreover, people are not entirely responsible for their preferences; in many cases, preferences are shaped by genetic and environmental influences beyond their control.

But resource egalitarians can reply that justice requires that claimants on goods to which they are entitled should take into account the constraints these claims put on others. On this view, the value of resources should depend not on how much welfare the claimant can get from it but on the highest price people would pay for it in a competitive market where everyone could had equal opportunity and equal resources to bid on those resources. Thus, resource egalitarians also give the preferences of autonomous agents an essential role when measuring

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