Philosophy › Section K · Political philosophy › Topic K.4

Distributive justice

Every society divides up income, wealth, opportunities and burdens somehow. Distributive justice asks what a fair division looks like, and the two most influential modern answers, from John Rawls and Robert Nozick, point in opposite directions.

In this topic

  • Who gets what, and why?
  • Candidate principles
  • Rawls: justice as fairness
  • Rawls's two principles
  • Worked example: three societies
  • Objections to Rawls
  • Nozick: entitlement theory
  • Worked example: the basketball star
  • Objections to Nozick
  • Capabilities and luck
  • Common mistakes to avoid
  • Key takeaways

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