Distributive Justice

Abstract

AbstractPhilosophical discussions of distributive justice (hereafter DJ) usually focus on three – equally important – matters. The first matter treats thescopeof DJ: it aims to identify the groups of people which are responsible for bringing it about. Different kinds of groups – corporations, tribes, churches, ethnic communities, states and, increasingly over the years, international organizations – constitute the space of human activity. In the matter of scope, a just distribution would include all of those whom the group in question is responsible for their well‐being. The second matter seeks to define thecurrencyof DJ; namely, it asks what goods should be distributed in order for justice to be realized among a given group of people. It is believed in most studies of DJ that the goods in question should enable people to gradually increase their well‐being. The third matter tackles theobjectivesof DJ; that is, it concentrates on the end‐state in which a suitable measure of the goods required should be obtained by members of the group in question. In this sense, conducting justice by distribution requires principles specifying an outcome in which everyone in the group receives their due.