Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Equality - Hardcover

Dworkin, Ronald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674002199 ISBN 13: 9780674002197

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2000

Synopsis

Equality is the endangered species of political ideals. Even left-of-center politicians reject equality as an ideal: government must combat poverty, they say, but need not strive that its citizens be equal in any dimension. In his new book Ronald Dworkin insists, to the contrary, that equality is the indispensable virtue of democratic sovereignty. A legitimate government must treat all its citizens as equals, that is, with equal respect and concern, and, since the economic distribution that any society achieves is mainly the consequence of its system of law and policy, that requirement imposes serious egalitarian constraints on that distribution.

What distribution of a nation's wealth is demanded by equal concern for all? Dworkin draws upon two fundamental humanist principles--first, it is of equal objective importance that all human lives flourish, and second, each person is responsible for defining and achieving the flourishing of his or her own life--to ground his well-known thesis that true equality means equality in the value of the resources that each person commands, not in the success he or she achieves. Equality, freedom, and individual responsibility are therefore not in conflict, but flow from and into one another as facets of the same humanist conception of life and politics. Since no abstract political theory can be understood except in the context of actual and complex political issues, Dworkin develops his thesis by applying it to heated contemporary controversies about the distribution of health care, unemployment benefits, campaign finance reform, affirmative action, assisted suicide, and genetic engineering.

About this title

About the Author

Ronald Dworkin is Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University and Jeremy Bentham Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London. He is the 2007 recipient of the Holberg International Memorial Prize.

Reviews

In this ambitious investigation into the very bedrock of a democratic society, Dworkin, one of our leading legal thinkers (he teaches at NYU), explores the "popular but mysterious political ideal" of equality, looking into its theoretical underpinnings and then showing how a proper conception of equality informs hot-button issues such as campaign finance reform, affirmative action and antisodomy laws. Dworkin (Freedom's Law) advocates a fundamental "equality of resources," arguing that government must provide a form of material equality for everyone. In probing this proposition, he rejects conservative and paternalistic notions of democracy, advocating an "ethical individualism" that makes it government's obligation to treat the life of each person as having great and equal importance. Many of the questions Dworkin raises are of grave concern for America as it faces a new century: What form of democracy is most appropriate to an egalitarian society? How much should a nation like ours spend on its citizens' health? What are the ethical implications of genetic engineering? While in places his abstract discussions of liberty and democracy can be slow going, Dworkin also offers refreshingly pointed commentary on the 1996 Welfare Reform Act ("a plain defeat for social justice"), America's lack of national health-care coverage (a "national disgrace") and other important issues. Two chapters on affirmative action, in which Dworkin argues that sketchy factual evidence about race-based admissions has distorted the debate, are especially insightful. Whatever one's political convictions, it is difficult not to be moved by this book's final, forceful imperative that human lives be successful rather than wasted. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A case for equality as a policy-guiding principle in contemporary democracy, written by noted legal philosopher Dworkin (Freedom's Law, 1996, etc.).Lawmakers in the post–Cold War third way democracies choose to protect individual liberty at the expense of equality, according to Dworkin. As he sees it, the consequences of this course (particularly in the US) are severe: the failure of health care and campaign finance reform, welfare cutbacks, and the elimination of affirmative action. More alarming to Dworkin, however, is the degree to which these policies reflect a lack of equal concern for individuals, which he calls the indispensable virtue of legitimate sovereigns. Rejecting the idea that liberty and equality are mutually exclusive ideals, Dworkin outlines a second chance for third way democracies. A legitimate government's objective, he insists, must be to insure that the fates of individuals are insensitive to their identities but sensitive to their choices. It accomplishes this by providing for equality through the initial outlay of resources, with citizens accepting responsibility for subsequent, freely made choices. Part I, comprised largely of theoretical pieces written in the 1980s, explores the intersection of equality, liberty, and community in hypothetical scenarios. Anyone frustrated by Dworkin's customarily high level of abstraction will be heartened by Part II, which is considerably more earthbound and nearly self-contained. These more recent, policy-based chapters on campaign finance reform, affirmative action, genetic technology, and euthanasia, among other issues, are thick with rigorous case analysis and fascinating data about the state of equality and liberty. This section is particularly valuable for its presentation of practical policy issues along with the theoretical penumbras emanating from them. While more compelling for its articulate announcement of crisis than for its proposed solution, Dworkin's study of what we can and must do to redeem our political virtue sounds a distressing alarm. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Everywhere, egalitarians are in retreat--California and Texas have struck down affirmative action, even as federal and state officials scale back welfare benefits. But why should Americans worry so long as democratic majorities approve of the new policies? One of the country's most distinguished legal theorists, Dworkin here defends equality as a political ideal even more important to the nation's long-term political health than majority rule. But how should legislators and judges translate equality of concern into law and jurisprudence? In a tightly reasoned foray, Dworkin argues for the equality of available resources--tightly linking this equality to personal responsibility for the use of those resources. For the contemporary implications of egalitarian theory, readers can turn to the second half of the book, where Dworkin applies--and extends--his doctrines, laying out carefully detailed justifications for affirmative action, the prereform welfare system, and homosexual rights. Lawmakers and interested general readers will want to scour these pages for insights, even if they disagree with Dworkin's conclusions. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Drawing from his expertise as a philosopher and legal theorist, Dworkin (law and philosophy, NYU) discusses the ethical foundations of conflicting political ideologies and strives for a consensus that explains human behavior. Central to this notion is the Aristotelian concept of akrasia (literally, "lack of self-control," this term has come to mean, among other things, "acting against one's considered judgment"), which he explicates thoroughly as he relates it to issues confronting contemporary politicians. As Dworkin sees it, the magnanimity of virtue imbues the political mind with an enlightened form of self-interest that has the potential to override immediate or corporeal self-interests of time, money, and labor. Dworkin frames this dichotomy in terms of a struggle between critical and volitional interests in which people actually spurn self-enhancing political concepts (such as a tax cut) in favor of more altruistic objectives. He concludes by noting that as human beings suppress their individual volitional interests, society will witness an increasing level of attention to the critical interests of humankind as a whole. Highly recommended for academic libraries.DPhilip Y. Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Law Lib., New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From the book:

"Politicians are now anxious to endorse what they call a 'new' liberalism, or a 'third' way between the old rigidities of right and left. These descriptions are often criticized as merely slogans lacking substance. The criticism is generally justified, but the appeal of the slogans nevertheless suggests something important. The old egalitarians insisted that a political community has a collective responsibility to show equal concern for all its citizens, but they defined that equal concern in a way that ignored those citizens' personal responsibilities. Conservatives--new and old--insisted on that personal responsibility, but they have defined it so as to ignore the collective responsibility. The choice between these two mistakes is an unnecessary as well as an unattractive one. If the argument that follows is sound, we can achieve a unified account of equality and responsibility that respects both. If that is the third way then it should be our way."

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674002199
• ISBN 13: 9780674002197
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 511