Arguments about distributive justice often take place around two ideas. One is that good should be distributed equally. The other is that how people fare in life should depend on what they are responsible for. The author asks what draws us to these two ideas and examines recent attempts by egalitarian thinkers to bring them together in a single distributive ideal. Underlying this ideal is the egalitarian intuition - the intuition that it is objectionable for some to be worse off than others through no fault of their own. in a wide-ranging discussion, Lake tests that intuition from a variety of perspectives and points to the gaps in our current thinking about quality and individual responsibility.
Reviews
Lake, by keeping an eye on practical politics, shows how political philosophy can usefully inform political debates. * Millennium: Journal of International Studies *
An impressive and useful work of political philosophy ... Lake successfully manages to introduce the dramatis personae of the debate (e.g., Rawls, Nagel, Dworkin et al.,) into his argument and presents their theories in a way that is accessible to students of politics who may not be experts on their thought ... most with general background knowledge in politics would be rewarded by their efforts in reading this book. * Millennium: Journal of International Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199241743
Author Christopher Lake
Format Hardback
Page Count 184
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 415g
Dimensions(mm) 243mm * 164mm * 15mm