Will Cook
Furthermore, he is willing to tolerate inequality if it benefits the poorest. He is less concerned with the gap between rich and poor and more concerned with the level the poor are at. He would be tolerant of the capitalist system which Marx detests and Nozick admires, as long as it benefitted those who are the most disadvantaged. We can see this in modern society through economic growth. Though it may create new inequalities and perpetuate existing ones, it can at least raise many people out of poverty, and ensure overall happiness and utility is greater. When considering what is ‘good’ about a society we must take into account a range of values and ideals. It is not enough to make equality an absolute and expect fairness to follow. This is particularly true when we consider that in many cases equality it may be unfair. Is it proper to value two people the same in society when one evidently contributes more? What we can see developing is the idea that equality is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a good society. There are obvious natural unfairnesses and injustices which we should try to eliminate but society is about more than just this.
notion of ‘society’, we can easily forget that it is something composed of and invented by humans. By ignoring the freedom and wishes of those within a society we detriment the society itself. I believe that though a good society would have to be equal in some way, not all equal societies are good ones. The utopia of Marx is one in which individuals are homogenized and compressed into a single entity, at the expense of their freedom. It is impossible to make a society good and at the same time ignore liberty. Equally though, Nozick’s ‘Utopia’ is one where unfairness is allowed to breed and the vices of men are unrestrained. The fact that men will naturally compete and undercut each other surely means that we should have a higher power to protect those that are disadvantaged by the system, and prevent society collapsing. Therefore I feel any good society must strike a balance. In order to allow people to live the good life in the way they see fit, there must be a system to allow equality of opportunity. But in order for equality to achieve its overall end of happiness, it must no disregard the liberty of individuals. Equality is a good, but it is not an absolute good. A good society may well be an equal one, but it would also have to be more than that.
It should value liberty and the rights of an individual. By becoming preoccupied with the
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