ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses sociological and philosophical literatures to provide a framework for examining how the arguments and rhetoric employed by those challenging economic inequality are connected to philosophical perspectives of distributive justice. It focuses on overview of major philosophical approaches towards questions of distributive justice and economic inequality and identifies the central questions guiding each perspective. Economic inequality, both within and between nations, has risen considerably since the early 1970s. Welfare based principles have been developed both by philosophers and economists. Egalitarians might argue that participants in the original position, behind the veil of ignorance, would create institutions that provided all members with equal rewards. Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) offer arguments rooted in pragmatism and welfare-based principles of distributive justice. This brief analysis of the spirit leveldemonstrates that conceptions of justice and fairness are embedded in critiques of economic inequality and that the ethical arguments developed do not correspond with any single philosophical perspective of distributive justice.
