« Keeping your image formats straight | Main | Voting with your shelf space »
March 20, 2006
Liberal egalitarianism
I found the article over at Cato Unbound, "When Inequality Matters", a helpful and insightful look at what sorts of inequality matters and what do not. He discuses two different theory, equality as liberation (1 below) and equality as mitigating misfortune (2 below).
1. The dimensions of equality that matter are dimensions where moving in one direction (letting wives have bank accounts, say) is liberating while moving in the other direction is oppressive.2. The dimensions of equality that matter are dimensions where moving in one direction (toward equality of income, say) fosters prosperity while moving in the other fosters destitution.
In one sense this is a rehash of the freedom from / freedom to discussion that pop up in a freshman philosophy class, but I found the moderate tone, excellent quotes, and good choice of supporting statistics a helpful refresher.
Posted by OneEyedMan at March 20, 2006 11:09 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)