And Justice for All: Viewing the wealth of three United States billionaires through three theories of distributive justice

Author(s)

Andrew NahhasFollow

Abstract

Wealth inequality in the United States has now hit levels not last seen since the 1920s. With this, has come a general disagreement over how to address this inequality, as well as a debate on whether it’s even an issue. Since no clear consensus has been reached, a theory that describes what is just and what is unjust wealth accumulation is needed. By summarizing the theories of traditional Libertarianism, left libertarianism and Luck Egalitarianism, and applying them to the fortunes of Oprah Winfrey, Richard Sackler and Jeff Bezos, this paper arrives at the conclusion that a version of traditional Libertarianism is what’s currently practiced in the United States. Additionally, if wealth inequality is to be confronted, then left libertarianism should be adopted as the new standard of distributive justice.

Department

Philosophy

Major

Philosophy

First Advisor

Dr. Kevin Vallier

First Advisor Department

Philosophy

Second Advisor

Dr. Abhishek Bhati

Second Advisor Department

Political Science

Publication Date

Spring 4-26-2021

Repository Citation

Nahhas, Andrew, "And Justice for All: Viewing the wealth of three United States billionaires through three theories of distributive justice" (2021). Honors Projects. 569.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects/569