In thinking about how a just state should assess and respond to inequalities in the distribution of particular goods, such as health and education, attention should be paid, first, to the causes of inequality with respect to these goods, and second, to the question of whether it is possible, and, if possible, morally appropriate, to enact policy aiming to counteract these causes. I argue that similar kinds of causes lead to inequalities in health and in education, but that features specific to the area of education make the case for state action aiming to achieve equality if anything more stringent in education than it is in the area of health.
Arneson, R. ( 2004) ‘Luck egalitarianism: An interpretation and defense’ , Philosophical Topics32 (1-2): 1-20.
2.
Brighouse, B. ( 2000) School Choice and Social Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3.
Brighouse, H. and Swift, A. ( 2009) ‘Legitimate parental partiality’, Philosophy and Public Affairs37(1): 43-80.
4.
Daniels, N. ( 1985) Just Health Care. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5.
Daniels, N., Kenney, B. and Kawachi, I. ( 2000) Is Inequality Bad for our Health?Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
6.
Dworkin, R. ( 2000) ‘What is equality, part II’, in Sovereign Virtue. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
7.
Hirsch, F. ( 1976) The Social Limits to Growth. London : Routledge and Kegan Paul.
8.
Holtug, N. ( 2007) ‘Prioritarianism’, in N. Holtug and K. Lippert-Rasmussen (eds) Egalitarianism: New Essays on the Nature and Value of Equality, pp. 125-6. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
9.
Rawls, J. ( 1971) A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press.
10.
Reich, R. ( 2005) ‘Minors within minorities: A problem for liberal multiculturalists’, in A. Eisenberg and J. Spinner-Halev (eds) Minorities within Minorities: Equality, Rights, and Diversity, pp. 209-26. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
11.
Reich, R. and Koski, W.S. ( 2006) ‘When adequate isn’t: The retreat from equity in educational law and policy and why it matters’, Emory Law Review56(3): 547-618.
12.
Roemer, J. ( 1998) Equality of Opportunity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
13.
Ross, L.F. ( 1998) Children, Families, and Health-Care Decision Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
14.
Satz, D. ( 2007) ‘Equality, adequacy, and education for citizenship’ , Ethics117: 623-48.
15.
Shapiro, T. ( 1999) ‘What is a child?’, Ethics109: 715-38.
16.
Swift, A. ( 2003) How not to be a Hypocrite: School Choice for the Morally Perplexed. London: Routledge.
17.
Weinstock, D. ( 2007) ‘La justice scolaire’, Revue philosophique de Louvain105 (1-2): 17-41.
18.
Weinstock, D.(2009) ‘Une philosophie politique de l’école’, Éducation et francophonie26(2): 31-46.
19.
Weinstock, D. (forthcoming) ‘How political philosophers should think about health’, The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.
20.
Wikler, D. ( 2005) ‘Personal and social responsibility for health’ , in S. Anand, F. Peter and A. Sen (eds) Public Health, Ethics, and Equity, pp. 109-34. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
