The Nature and Limits of Human Equality

by John Charvet

Overview

The belief in equality as the basis of a just society is fundamental to the dominant western, liberal viewpoint. Yet, the standard individualist justification for it is weak and contradictory. This book provides a radically new communitarian account of the value of equality and establishes it's proper limits.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349460519
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/01/2013
Edition description:	1st ed. 2013
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Charvet is Professor Emeritus in Political Science at London School of Economics, UK, where he taught political philosophy and its history for many years. He is the author of several books, including A Critique of Freedom and Equality and The Social Problem in the Philosophy of Rousseau. His most recent book, written with Dr Kaczynska-Nay, is The Liberal Project and Human Rights (2008).

Table of Contents

Key Terms 1. The Strange Neglect of the Basis of Equality in Contemporary Egalitarianism 2. Ancient Ethics and the Transformation of Political Values in Early Modern Natural Law Theory 3. The Individualist Ethical Justification of Equality and its Problems 4. The Community as the Source of Individual Ethical Worth 5. Communitarianism, Old and New 6. Global Justice in the Contemporary Literature 7. Liberal Communitarianism from a Global Perspective Selected Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

Charvet sets out to provide us with not only a detailed account of basic equality and where it originates, but also to present us with a new and unique account of how basic equality and egalitarian political ethics, that is the equal distribution of equal rights and duties amongst free citizens, go together. … Charvet’s book is an intriguing read for all those interested in questions of basic equality … .” (Fabian Schuppert, Res Publica, Vol. 22, 2016)

From the Publisher