Justice, Equality, Fairness, Desert, Rights, Free Will, Responsibility, and Luck1

Abstract

This chapter discusses crucial connections between justice, equality, fairness, desert, rights, free will, responsibility, luck, and comparative fairness. It aims to shed light on the well-known claim that egalitarians seek to redress the influence of luck, and that egalitarians are concerned that some should not be worse off than others through no fault, or choice, of their own. It argues that traditional claims about the importance of fault, choice, luck, and responsibility are best understood as rough approximations, tracking the egalitarian's more fundamental concern with comparative fairness. The discussion has both theoretical and practical implications, bearing on a wide range of issues such as procedural versus substantive fairness, ex ante versus ex post equality, whole lives versus simultaneous or corresponding segments egalitarianism, punishment, and health care allocation.