S Subramanian - Are egalitarians really vulnerable to the Levelling-Down Objection and the Divided World Example?

jpe:10609 - Journal of Philosophical Economics, May 20, 2011, Volume IV Issue 2 - https://doi.org/10.46298/jpe.10609
Are egalitarians really vulnerable to the Levelling-Down Objection and the Divided World Example?Article

Authors: S Subramanian 1

This essay is a quick critique of one aspect of Derek Parfit's criticism of Egalitarianism in his larger consideration of the claims of, and distinction between, Prioritarianism and Egalitarianism. It reviews issues relating to the 'Levelling Down Objection' and the 'Divided World Example'. More specifically, it is argued that the Levelling Down Objection is a serious problem only for Pure Telic Egalitarianism, not for Pluralist Telic Egalitarianism; and that even in a Divided World, one can have an egalitarian justification for preferring an equal distribution of a smaller sum of wellbeing to an unequal distribution of a larger sum. By these means, it is contended that Parfit's claim of the vulnerability of Egalitarianism to the Levelling Down Objection and the Divided World Example is not sustainable.

https://doi.org/10.46298/jpe.10609
Source: HAL:hal-03704584v1
Volume: Volume IV Issue 2
Section: Articles
Published on: May 20, 2011
Imported on: December 28, 2022
Keywords: pure and pluralist telic egalitarianism,deontic egalitarianism,prioritarianism,[SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences
Licence: Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

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JEL Classification System1
  • Z00 - Other Special Topics: General
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