Pluralism, Justice, and Equality

Abstract

Abstract The book contains a series of critical appraisals by political theorists of Michael Walzer's book Spheres of Justice. The main ideas of Walzer's work are summarized in the introduction, and Walzer himself replies to criticisms in the concluding chapter. Four main issues are addressed. First, does the interpretative approach to justice favoured by Walzer, which focuses on the shared understandings of political communities, allow him to obtain sufficient critical distance from the beliefs and practices of his own society? Second, is it possible to preserve separate ‘spheres of justice’ in which different social goods are distributed by different criteria, or do some goods— especially money—have a significance that blurs the boundaries between spheres? Third, can equality be achieved simply by keeping the spheres of justice separate, or does it require a more radical form of redistribution? Fourth, what role does democratic citizenship play in Walzer's theory of justice?

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