ABSTRACT
Advocates of the welfare state often appeal to social justice as the moral basis of their claim that distribution of scarce resources ought to be made in proportion to the needs of potential recipients, at least to a certain minimum level of satisfaction. Formal justice, which involves the consistent application of the relevant established rule or law to all cases which are alike within the terms of that rule or law, may indeed be regarded as requiring treatment of persons in accordance with their rights irrespective of their deserts. The welfare theorist who capitalizes on the language of justice can hardly deny the appositeness of this rejoinder and yet it is an objection which is irrelevant to the essence of his doctrine which is that need is, by itself, a sufficient reason for differential distribution. For instance, the word 'justice' has strong emotive meaning such that to describe one's policies as just can be rhetorically efficacious.
