Non-egalitarian Equality: a Normative View

Authors

  • Javier Pamparacuatro Martín

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.170.02

Keywords:

Equality, liberal/libertarian tradition, egalitarianism, equality of outcome, arithmetical equality.

Abstract

This article aims to shed light on the ambiguous notion of equality. It comments on and criticizes the major claims regarding equality maintained by certain prominent authors belonging to the liberal/libertarian tradition. Political equality, as distinguished from substantive equality, is the object of the analysis. Since the liberal/libertarian tradition has targeted various egalitarianisms starting from utopian socialism, the most representative contemporary egalitarian doctrines —equality of outcome and arithmetical equality— are also assessed here. The investigation eventually allows us to build a theoretical framework for politics that rests upon three kinds of equality: formal equality, ideological equalities, and normative equality.