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25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 1. Grounds of equality

[reaons for viewing and treating people as equals]

37 ideas
Do most people like equality because they are second-rate? [Plato]
Friendship is impossible between master and slave, even if they are made equal [Plato]
Men and women should qualify equally for honours on merit [Plato]
We can claim an equal right to aristocratic virtue, as well as to wealth or freedom [Aristotle]
Equality is obviously there to help people who do not get priority in the constitution [Aristotle]
It is always the weak who want justice and equality, not the strong [Aristotle]
Jew and Greeks, bond and free, male and female, are all one in Christ [Paul]
Hobbes says people are roughly equal; Locke says there is no right to impose inequality [Hobbes, by Wolff,J]
There is not enough difference between people for one to claim more benefit than another [Hobbes]
No one even thinks of equality in monarchies and despotism; they all want superiority [Montesquieu]
Equality is not command by everyone or no one, but command and obedience among equals [Montesquieu]
Three stages of the state produce inequalities of wealth, power, and enslavement [Rousseau]
The social compact imposes conventional equality of rights on people who may start unequally [Rousseau]
It is admirable to elevate the humble to the level of the great, but the opposite is depraved [Tocqueville]
Only liberty, equality and sympathy can stand up to anti-social people [Kropotkin]
Slaves can be just as equal as free people [Russell]
People absurdly claim an equal share of things which are essentially privileged [Weil]
Relationships depend on equality, so unequal treatment kills them [Weil]
By making money the sole human measure, inequality has become universal [Weil]
Equality seems to require that each person be acknowledged as having a significant point of view [Williams,B]
Equality implies that people are alike in potential as well as in needs [Williams,B]
Equality was once opposed to aristocracy, but now it opposes public utility and individual rights [Nagel]
In judging disputes, should we use one standard, or those of each individual? [Nagel]
The ideal of acceptability to each individual underlies the appeal to equality [Nagel]
Equality of interests is a minimal principle, not implying equal treatment [Singer]
We can treat people as equals, or actually treat them equally [Dworkin, by Grayling]
Treating people as equals is the one basic value of all plausible political theories [Dworkin, by Kymlicka]
To rectify the undeserved equality, we should give men longer and women shorter lives [Kekes]
It is just a fact that some people are morally better than others [Kekes]
Liberty and equality cannot be reconciled [Grayling]
Utilitarians argue for equal distribution because of diminishing utility of repetition [Wolff,J]
Difference Principle: all inequalities should be in favour of the disadvantaged [Wolff,J]
The need for equality among people arises from impartiality and objectivity [Sen]
All modern theories of justice demand equality of something [Sen]
Opportunity should ignore extraneous factors, or foster competence, or ignore all disadvantages [Swift]
Most people want equality because they want a flourishing life [Tuckness/Wolf]
Mere equality, as in two trees being the same height, has no value at all [Charvet]