ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a range of theories and philosophical positions that underpin the idea of a universal basic income. Using the concepts of inequality, freedom and social justice as starting points for discussion, this chapter examines a number of different theorist’s and philosophical ideas by analysing key values and principles associated with universal basic income. This includes a discussion of social inequality by drawing on Marxism and Marxist thought, with particular discussion of Gorz’s Reclaiming Work: Beyond the Wage-Based Society. This is followed by a discussion about freedom, drawing on Philippe Van Parijs’s ideas about freedom and liberty from his book Real Freedom for All: What (if anything) Can Justify Capitalism?. This chapter also examines the notion of social justice, by discussing John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice, addressing how social justice is an important principle for universal basic income.
