Distributive Luck

South African Journal of Philosophy 31 (2):541-559 (2012)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This article explores the Rawlsian goal of ensuring that distributions are not influenced by the morally arbitrary. It does so by bringing discussions of distributive justice into contact with the debate over moral luck initiated by Williams and Nagel. Rawls’ own justice as fairness appears to be incompatible with the arbitrariness commitment, as it creates some equalities arbitrarily. A major rival, Dworkin’s version of brute luck egalitarianism, aims to be continuous with ordinary ethics, and so is (a) sensitive to non-philosophical beliefs about free will and responsibility, and (b) allows inequalities to arise on the basis of option luck. But Dworkin does not present convincing reasons in support of continuity, and there are compelling moral reasons for justice to be sensitive to the best philosophical account of free will and responsibility, as is proposed by the revised brute luck egalitarianism of Arneson and Cohen. While Dworkinian brute luck egalitarianism admits three sorts of morally arbitrary disadvantaging which correspond to three forms of moral luck (constitutive, circumstantial, and option luck), revised brute luck egalitarianism does not disadvantage on the basis of constitutive or circumstantial luck. But it is not as sensitive to responsibility as it needs to be to fully extinguish the influence of the morally arbitrary, for persons under it may exercise their responsibility equivalently yet end up with different outcomes on account of option luck. It is concluded that egalitarians should deny the existence of distributive luck, which is luck in the levels of advantage that individuals are due.

Similar books and articles

The Incompleteness of Luck Egalitarianism.Ryan Long - 2011 - Social Philosophy Today 27:87-96.
Egalitarian Justice and Expected Value.Carl Knight - 2013 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 16 (5):1061-1073.
The Metaphysical Case for Luck Egalitarianism.Carl Knight - 2006 - Social Theory and Practice 32 (2):173-189.
Moral Luck Defended.Nathan Hanna - 2014 - Noûs 48 (4):683-698.
Luck Egalitarianism: Equality, Responsibility, and Justice.Carl Knight - 2009 - Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Language and luck.Helder De Schutter & Lea Ypi - 2012 - Politics, Philosophy and Economics 11 (4):357-381.
Choice and Luck in Recent Egalitarian Thought.Timothy Hinton - 2002 - Philosophical Papers 31 (2):145-167.
Responsibility, Desert, and Justice.Carl Knight - 2011 - In Carl Knight & Zofia Stemplowska (eds.), Responsibility and Distributive Justice. Oxford University Press.
Hurley on egalitarianism and the luck-neutralizing aim.Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen - 2005 - Politics, Philosophy and Economics 4 (2):249-265.
Luck Egalitarianism Interpretated and Defended.Richard J. Arneson - 2004 - Philosophical Topics 32 (1/2):1-20.

Analytics

Added to PP
2012-09-10

Downloads
599 (#26,127)

6 months
100 (#35,135)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Carl Knight
University of Glasgow

Citations of this work

The Injustice of Discrimination.Carl Knight - 2013 - South African Journal of Philosophy 32 (1):47-59.
Preferences, reasoning errors, and resource egalitarianism.Alexandru Volacu - 2018 - Philosophical Studies 175 (8):1851-1870.

Add more citations

References found in this work

A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition.John Rawls - 1999 - Harvard University Press.
Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility.John Martin Fischer & Mark Ravizza - 1998 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Mark Ravizza.
Rescuing Justice and Equality.G. A. Cohen (ed.) - 2008 - Harvard University Press.
Famine, Affluence, and Morality.Peter Singer - 1972 - Oxford University Press USA.
Famine, affluence, and morality.Peter Singer - 1972 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (3):229-243.

View all 45 references / Add more references