Introduction

By far the most important question, in contemporary political philosophy, is that of the just distribution of material resources. Radical egalitarians argue that a society is just if, and only if, no one is worst off than others through no fault of his own.1 Less radical proponents of the coercive distribution of resources from the well-off to the badly off claim, by contrast, that a society is just if, and only if, everybody has the resources they need in order to lead a minimally flourishing life, provided-or some such proponents will add-that they are not responsible for lacking those resources.