ABSTRACT
Renunciation of worldly desires inspired Cathars, mendicants and other movements of monastic reform. Demands for greater equality drove the European peasant rebellions between the fourteenth and sixteenth century. The work of Walras and Jevons marked a paradigm shift from earlier labor theories of value which saw the causes of inequality in historical power differences between market participants which the state could change. In the new neo-classical view, state intervention was acceptable only where people were excluded from the market altogether. The fact that markets allowed some to gain control over capital merely redefined workers' economic environment and created new incentives to seek employment. This chapter talks about four theories of distributive justice: the argument from possession: Libertarian views, the argument from prudence: John Rawls, the argument from expediency: Henry Sidgwick and the argument from participation: Habermas' Discourse Ethic.
