Why Preference Satisfaction Cannot Ground an Egalitarian Theory of Justice
Author(s)
Schaller, Walter E
Abstract
Proponents of a preference-satisfaction theory of the good typically argue that welfare consists in the satisfaction of ideal or rational preferences. I argue that an egalitarian theory of justice should reject such a conception of welfare as the proper metric for equality. Because of such phenomena as sour grapes and the endowment effect, and because some preferences are insatiable, an egalitarian theory of justice must have an independent, objective standard for what persons are entitled to as a matter of justice. It cannot allow actual or ideal preferences to serve as the grounds for such claims to distributive shares.
