Abstract
In Rescuing Justice and Equality G.A. Cohen argues that justice requires an uncompromising commitment to equality. Cohen also argues, however, that justice must be sensitive to other values, including a robust commitment to individual freedom and to the welfare of the community. We ask whether a commitment to these other values means that, despite Cohen s commitment to equality, his view requires that we make room for inequality in the name of justice. We argue that even on Cohen s version of egalitarianism equality, freedom, and welfare are not always compatible. Justice will require trade-offs between these values. Sometimes, equality will need to be sacrificed. This is a surprising result and to show it, we use two informal impossibility proofs drawn from examples in Rescuing Justice and Equality. (c) 2015 koninklijke brill nv, leiden.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 172 - 194 |
Number of pages | 23 |
Journal | Journal of Moral Philosophy |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |