ABSTRACT
The first philosophical issue raised by the examination of West's market model concerns equality of opportunity. This chapter examines his market model in the light of the discussions of three philosophers, Bernard Williams, John Rawls, and Ronald Dworkin, chosen as representing an important line of recent liberal thinking on issues concerning equality. Williams discusses equality of opportunity and relates it to educational provision in his seminal paper 'The Idea of Equality'. The chapter considers three issues. Firstly, Williams' definition is outlined, and modified; secondly, it provides an implication of Williams' ideas for the family, and suggest how West's notion of an adequate minimum education for all could provide a way around the problem encountered and third is how West's model seems to satisfy Williams' definition of equality of opportunity, except for one difficulty, that of 'positional goods'. The chapter discusses Rawls' theory offers two arguments for his difference principle: an intuitive argument and a rational choice argument.
