Economic Justice

The crux of Nozick’s theory is that one owns oneself, one’s labor, and its fruits. Hence, even if one morally ought to donate money to help the poor, the government would violate one’s right of self-ownership by forcing one to help them. Rawls’ theory starts from the thought that one’s starting point in life is undeserved. Hence the contingent differences arising therefrom are morally irrelevant. Thus Rawls argues that the social arrangement agreed upon by representatives of different social classes when knowledge of such differences is to be suppressed will be a just arrangement. Rawls further argues that the difference principle will be agreed upon, according to which social and economic inequalities cannot be allowed to exist unless they are to be arranged to the benefit of the least advantaged.