ETHICS & EQUALITY

What Ethics is

• attempting to live according to would-be-universal standards
• Singer's Utilitarianism (a tentative argument)
• add a universality requirement to basic pre-ethical (egoistic) decision making & we arrive at
• the utilitarian principle of giving equal consideration to the interests of all affected.

The Basis of Equality

• Not a factual principle asserting that all people are equal
• Better understood as a normative principle: that people should be treated equally with respect to their claims to satisfaction of their interests
• The interests of each should receive equal consideration.
• Not all interests are equally weighty; e.g. interest in not being gruesomely murdered outweighs one's interest in one evening's dining enjoyment: e.g., the chicken & the diner.
• Declining Marginal Utility: In general the more of a good thing an individual has already the less value additional units have for that individual; i.e., the less that individual gains per additional unit, or the less it's in their interest to have additional units; e.g., tax breaks for the rich v. poor.

• Equality of Opportunity is not an attractive ideal.
• it rewards the lucky
• good genes
• socio-economic advantages due to birth
• penalizes the unlucky: Monopoly example
• Equality of Opportunity produces results that are unequal and unjust
• unequal: those endowed with superior intelligence or aggression -- even supposing equal educational opportunities -- receive greater rewards
• unjust because
• distribution according to inherited abilities is based on an arbitrary form of selection
• having nothing to do with what people deserve or need
• Distributive justice better served by the Marxist principle:
• "From each according to their ability.  To each according to their needs."
• rationale needs-based distribution maximizes interest satisfaction
• the greater one's need for X the greater interest one has in having X
• Modified version: distribution according to needs plus effort.

Affirmative Action

• Unequal distribution of benefits (status, income & wealth, power & authority) & burdens  associated with with ethnic and gender differences
• exist: blacks, hispanics, & women e.g., earn less per capita.
• are especially bad due to the association
• socially divisive: feelings of superiority & inferiority fostered on opposite sides
• engender feelings of hopeless: can't do anything about your sex and ethnicity; they're not products our our actions; we can't change them!
• Equal opportunity -- "a level playing field" -- is an inadequate remedy for those left disadvantaged by previous discrimination.
• A stronger remedy -- a tilt in the opposite direction -- is required: Affirmative action or reverse preferences.
• Main objection: "reverse discrimination" offends against the principle of equality itself:
• appears to: by treating people unequally on the basis of irrelevant factors of ethnicity & gender
• but doesn't:
• ethnicity & gender relevant interest determining factors
• offends against EO but not against ECI
• Conclusion:
• since it's not unjustly discriminatory
• "In the absence of more promising alternatives it seems worth a try." (45)