Abstract

Rakowski's form of egalitarianism places him squarely within the dominant individualistic liberal tradition developed over the past two or three decades by John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, and others. He calls his view "equality of fortune," and states its "central thesis" this way: "no one should have less valuable resources and opportunities available to him than anyone else, simply in virtue of some chance occurrence the risk of which he did not choose to incur". Those who suffer from the fallout of the natural lottery have "a right to compensation" from "fortune's favorites". Thus, his answer to the question Amartya Sen has popularized --"Equality of what?"--is not, contrary to appearances, equality of fortune. Rather, it is equality of "resources and opportunities," which alone can rectify the inevitable inequalities of fortune.