Liberal Egalitarianism and the Harm Principle

Authors

Michele Lombardi, University of GlasgowFollow
Kaname Miyagishima, Waseda University
Roberto Veneziani, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Working Paper Number

2013-07

Publication Date

2013

Abstract

This paper analyses the implications of classical liberal and libertarian approaches for distributive justice in the context of social welfare orderings. An axiom capturing a liberal non-interfering view of society, named the Weak Harm Principle, is studied, whose roots can be traced back to John Stuart Mill’s essay On Liberty. It is shown that liberal views of individual autonomy and freedom can provide consistent foundations for social welfare judgments, in both the finite and the infinite context. In particular, a liberal non-interfering approach can help to adjudicate some fundamental distributive issues relative to intergenerational justice. However, a surprisingly strong and general relation is established between liberal views of individual autonomy and non-interference, and egalitarian principles in the Rawlsian tradition.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/4273869

Recommended Citation

Lombardi, Michele; Miyagishima, Kaname; and Veneziani, Roberto, "Liberal Egalitarianism and the Harm Principle" (2013). Economics Department Working Paper Series. 158.
https://doi.org/10.7275/4273869