Relative Priority

Abstract

The good of those who are worse off matters more to the overall good than the good of those who are better off does. But being worse off than one’s fellows is not itself bad; nor is inequality itself bad; nor do differences in well-being matter more when well-being is lower in an absolute sense. Instead, the good of the relatively worse-off weighs more heavily in the overall good than the good of the relatively better-off does, in virtue of the fact that they are relatively worse off. This paper articulates and defends the view just described. [keywords: inequality, utilitarianism, egalitarianism, prioritarianism, aggregation