Fortunatelythereisnoneedtopinthecaseforequalitytoone
particular outcome of a scientific investigation. The
appropriate response to those who claim to have found
evidenceofgeneticallybaseddifferencesinabilityamongthe
racesorbetweenthesexesisnottosticktothebeliefthatthe
geneticexplanationmustbewrong,whateverevidencetothe
contrarymayturnup;insteadweshouldmakeitquiteclear
thatthe claimto equalitydoesnot dependon intelligence,
moralcapacity,physicalstrength,orsimilarmattersoffact.
Equalityisamoralidea,notanassertionoffact.Thereisno
logically compelling reason for assuming that a factual
difference in ability between two people
justifies any difference in theamount of consideration we
givetotheirneedsandinterests.Theprincipleoftheequality
of humanbeings is not adescription of an alleged actual
equalityamonghumans:itisaprescriptionofhowweshould
treat human beings.
Jeremy Bentham, the founder of the reforming utilitarian
schoolofmoralphilosophy,incorporatedtheessential basis
ofmoralequalityintohissystemofethicsbymeansofthe
formula:“Eachtocountforoneandnoneformorethanone.”
Inotherwords, theinterestsofeverybeingaffectedbyan
actionaretobetakenintoaccountandgiventhesameweight
as thelikeinterests ofany other being.Alater utilitarian,
HenrySidgwick,putthepointinthisway:“Thegoodofany
oneindividualisofnomoreimportance,fromthepointof
view(ifImaysayso)oftheUniverse,thanthegoodofany
other.” More recently the leading figures in contemporary
moralphilosophyhaveshown agreatdealofagreementin
specifying as a fundamental presupposition of their moral
theories some similar requirement that works to give
everyone’s interests equal consideration—although these