Prioritarianism

Prioritarianism, or the priority view,[1] is a perspective within ethics and political philosophy stating that "social welfare orderings should give explicit priority to the worse off".[2] Prioritarianism resembles utilitarianism, and is likewise a form of aggregative consequentialism.

The term "prioritarianism" was coined by the moral philosopher Larry Temkin. Richard Arneson, a proponent of the view,[3] offers the following formulation:

Prioritarianism holds that the moral value of achieving a benefit for an individual (or avoiding a loss) is greater, the greater the size of the benefit as measured by a well-being scale, and the greater, the lower the person's level of well-being over the course of her life apart from receipt of this benefit.[4]

Prioritarianism is one interpretation of distributive justice and is often pitted against egalitarianism.[5][failed verification][6]

  1. ^ Parfit, Derek (December 1997). "Equality and priority". Ratio. 10 (3): 202–221. doi:10.1111/1467-9329.00041.
  2. ^ Brunori, Paolo (26 January 2021). "Prioritarianism and Equality of Opportunity" (PDF). Wellbeing and Human Development Project Preprint and Discussion Paper Series: 1.
  3. ^ Arneson, Richard (January 2000). "Luck Egalitarianism and Prioritarianism". Ethics. 110 (2): 339–349. doi:10.1086/233272. S2CID 15536237.
  4. ^ Arneson, Richard, "Egalitarianism", in Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (fall 2008 edition).
  5. ^ "John Broome, Oxford Philosophy". users.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
  6. ^ Hirose, Iwao (2011), Brooks, Thom (ed.), "Egalitarianism and Prioritarianism", New Waves in Ethics, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 88–107, doi:10.1057/9780230305885_6, ISBN 978-0-230-30588-5, retrieved 2022-04-20