Questions
- Must freedom and equality conflict?
- Are there any valid positional goods?
- Is equality of opportunity desirable?
- Should we seek to equalise happiness?
References
Cavell, S. (1990) Conditions Handsome and Unhandsome: The Constitution of Emersonian
PerfectionismChicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Cohen, G. (1979) ‘Capitalism, Freedom, and the Proletariat’ in A. Ryan (ed.) The Idea of
FreedomOxford: Oxford University Press, 9–25.
Detwiler, B. (1990) Nietzsche and the Politics of Aristocratic RadicalismChicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.
Dworkin, R. (2000) Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of EqualityLondon: Harvard
University Press.
Fuller, L. (1965) ‘A Reply to Professors Cohen and Dworkin’ Villanova Law Review, 655–66.
Hart, H.L.A. (1958) ‘Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals’ Harvard Law Review
71(4), 593–629.
Hayek, F.A. (1973) Law, Legislation and LibertyLondon: Routledge.
Laver, M. (1997) Private Desires, Political Actions: An Invitation to the Politics of Rational
ChoiceLondon: Sage.
Miller, D. (1999) Principles of Social JusticeCambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Nietzsche, F. (1998) On the Genealogy of Morality, translated by Maudemarie Clark and
Alan J. Swenson, Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.
Nozick, R. (1974) Anarchy, State, and UtopiaOxford: Blackwell.
Phillips, A. (2004) ‘Defending Equality of Outcome’ Journal of Political Philosophy12(1),
1–19.
Rawls, J. (1972) A Theory of JusticeOxford: Clarendon Press.Further reading
J. Roland Pennock and John Chapman (eds) Equality(New York: Atherton Press, 1967) is
a useful collection of essays. Single-authored general works include: Alex Callinicos, Equality
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000); John Rees, Equality(New York: Praeger, 1971). A longer,
and more advanced, work is Larry Temkin, Inequality(New York: Oxford University Press,
1993). Other interesting single-authored works include Anne Phillips, Which Equalities
Matter?(Oxford: Polity, 1999) and Matt Cavanagh, Against Equality of Opportunity
(Oxford: Clarendon, 2002), who challenges traditional assumptions about the nature of
meritocracy. Amartya Sen, Inequality Reexamined(Oxford: Clarendon, 1992) stresses the
importance of the ‘equality of what?’ question (the importance of identifying metrics). James
Fishkin, Justice, Equal Opportunity, and the Family(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
1983) explores the family as a problem for equality. The most important contributions to
the equality debate are gathered together in a couple of edited collections: Louis Pojman and
Robert Westmoreland (eds) Equality: Selected Readings(New York: Oxford University Press,
1997) and Matthew Clayton and Andrew Williams, The Ideal of Equality(Basingstoke:
Palgrave, 2000).74 Part 1 Classical ideas