Egalitarianism

Egalitarianism is the moral and political doctrine that people ought to be treated as equals in some respect. Egalitarianism can have many forms and address many issues. A gender egalitarian, for example, believes that men and women deserve to be treated equally; their biological and social differences are insignificant with regard to the rights and opportunities they deserve. On the other hand, a racial egalitarian believes that all people deserve the same rights and opportunities regardless of race. An egalitarian (in the broad sense) would probably support both of these views.

Although many believe equality is a crucial component of a just society, egalitarianism is not universally endorsed in all contexts. For example, some egalitarians believe salaries should be roughly equal regardless of profession while others (who may believe in egalitarian principles regarding other matters) argue that differences in salaries are just. Another common difficulty with egalitarian principles concerns the physically disabled. Although we may wish to treat such individuals in the same manner that we would treat a non-disabled person, there are clearly some cases in which treating these individuals differently on the basis of their handicap is justified. If a man with an amputated arm applied for a construction job which required heavy lifting and the operation of heavy tools, the company would be justified in denying the person the job on this basis alone. Although this action could be labeled as an act of discrimination, it does not seem to be unjust discrimination.

The cognitively deficient are also a topic of debate regarding egalitarianism. Do individuals with severely reduced mental abilities (sometime so severe that they cannot make reasonable decisions or care for themselves) deserve to be treated comparably to rational, independent individuals? Although we often desire to treat all people equally and give them all equal rights, individuals with certain mental deficiencies may demand exceptions. However, debate continues about whom we treat differently (if anyone), the extent to which we treat them differently, and why we do so.