ON SEVERAL APPROACHES TO EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY

The formal theory of equality of opportunity emerged as a response – a friendly amendment – to Ronald Dworkin's (1981) characterization of resource egalitarianism, as defined by the allocation that would emerge from insurance contracts arrived at behind a thin veil of ignorance. This article co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEconomics and philosophy Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 165 - 200
Main Author Roemer, John E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.07.2012
Subjects
Contracts
Dworkin, Ronald
Egalitarianism
Equality
Ignorance
Inequality
Insurance
Philosophical thought
Philosophy
Rationality
Society
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Summary:The formal theory of equality of opportunity emerged as a response – a friendly amendment – to Ronald Dworkin's (1981) characterization of resource egalitarianism, as defined by the allocation that would emerge from insurance contracts arrived at behind a thin veil of ignorance. This article compares several of the prominent versions of this response, put forth in the period 1993–2008. I argue that a generalization of Roemer's (1998) proposal is the most satisfactory approach. Inherent in that generalization is an indeterminism, which reflects a philosophical problem: that we do not know what comprise the ethically correct rewards to effort. The indeterminism should be resolved, I propose, by an ancillary theory which limits the degree of inequality which is acceptable.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
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ISSN:0266-2671
1474-0028
DOI:10.1017/S0266267112000156