Self-ownership and equality: brute luck, gifts, universal dominance, and leximin

Abstract

Philippe Van Parijs propounds a new notion of egalitarian liberalism in his book ‘Real Freedom for All.’ His theory of justice comprises a plausible conception of self-ownership and compensation, and the promotion of social equality through leximinning. Van Parijs’s egalitarian views reject the agents’ claim to the benefits of their brute luck, and their right to transfer by untaxed gifts the wealth so generated. Van Parijs’s book makes significant contributions to political theory, and justifies the egalitarian liberalism of capitalist societies.