Social injustice: distributive egalitarianism, the complete life view, and age discrimination

Abstract

This chapter discusses philosophical approaches to the distribution of resources across age generations, and critiques arguments seeking to justify age discrimination. Granted that we should prioritise meeting the needs of individuals, especially in the use of scarce health resources, there is a question of whether we should at any given time prioritise those most in need at that time, or else try to see to it that everyone has, over their whole lives, an equal opportunity of having their needs met. The chapter argues that, apart from practical difficulties, when the implications of the second view, the ‘complete life view’ are worked out, it can be seen that it would lead to unjust discrimination against older people