Should the state use its power to promote and maintain egalitarian distributions of goods? This essay draws on Robert Nozick’s example of basketball player Wilt Chamberlain to critically resist this view. It argues that relational egalitarianism regarding moral status or equal standing is more plausible than an egalitarianism of distributive outcomes.
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Jessica Flanigan is a professor of leadership studies and of philosophy, politics, economics, and law at the University of Richmond. She is also the Richard L. Morrill Chair in Ethics and Democratic Values.
Christopher Freiman is a professor of general business at the John Chambers College of Business and Economics, West Virginia University.
