ABSTRACT
The issue that concerns us is the “distribution of what?” question in the theory of justice, and not the “what form should the distribution take?” question. Much of Sen’s writing has rightly focused on criticizing views, such as utilitarianism, that are insensitive (except contingently) to issues of distributive fairness. In what follows I shall assume that justice is sensitive to distributive fairness, but I shall not be concerned with how it is so concerned. It might be sufficientarian (concerned that people get enough), prioritarian (concerned with giving people as much as possible, but with extra concern for benefits to those who have less), or egalitarian (concerned with giving people equal benefits), some combination of these, or other principles.1 Our focus is on the nature of the benefits with which justice is concerned.
