A Short History of Distributive Justice

Distributive justice in its modern sense calls on the state to guarantee that everyone is supplied with a certain level of material means. Samuel Fleischacker argues that guaranteeing aid to the poor is a modern idea, developed only in the last two Centuries. Earlier notions of justice, including Aristotle's, were concerned with the distribution of political office, not of property. It was only in the 18th Century, in the work of philosophers such as Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant, that justice began to be applied to the problem of poverty. To attribute a longer pedigree to distributive justice is to fail to distinguish between justice and charity.

ISBN 0674018311   Pages 204 ISBN13 9780674018310 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Harvard University Press   Weight (grammes) 250 Imprint Harvard University Press   Published in Cambridge, Mass Format Paperback   Previous ISBN 9780674013407 Publication date 13 Sep 2005   Height (mm) 235 Library of Congress HB523   Width (mm) 155 DEWEY 320.011   Spine width (mm) 11 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1. From Aristotle to Adam Smith 1. Two Kinds of Justice 2. The Right of Necessity 3. Property Rights 4. Communal Experiments and Utopian Writings 5. Poor Laws 2. The Eighteenth Century 1. Citizen Equality: Rousseau 2. Changing Our Picture of the Poor: Smith 3. The Equal Worth of Human Beings: Kant 4. To the Vendome Palais de Justice: Babeuf 3. From Babeuf to Rawls 1. Reaction 2. Positivists 3. Marx 4. Utilitarians 5. Rawls 6. After Rawls Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

Fleischacker takes on the conventional history of distributive justice, more commonly called 'social justice' or 'economic justice.' Who first advocated giving material goods to the poor purely on the basis of need? Some histories attribute this line of thinking to figures as far back as Plato or Aristotle; others claim to find it in Rousseau. But Fleischacker convincingly demonstrates that the true origin of this idea is far more recent than we might think--and that the first great thinker to advocate it was none other than that tree-hugging liberal Adam Smith. Although the topic may seem dauntingly academic, the author has a readable, conversational style; the work of philosophers as diverse as Cicero, Hume, and Kant is discussed with energy, style, and wit. -- Steve Weinberg The American Lawyer 20040701 Engaging and very readable...This is a marvelous book which should be read by all social workers. By causing social workers to consider the complex issues the concept of social justice raises, Fleischacker's book may facilitate a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of what has become a central concept in the field. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare 20040301 A Short History of Distributive Justice is marked by extensive research, careful thought, and clear exposition. -- D. D. Raphael British Journal for the History of Philosophy

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