PO301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Wayne Rooney, Doris Lessing, Three Positions
Document Summary
Contrast between absolute and comparative desert; interested in comparative desert - focus not on whether people can ever deserve anything but on what kind of responsibility for a performance is necessary to ground desert claims to unequal rewards. Not so obvious - maybe people can be unequally deserving of admiration on grounds that don"t make them unequally deserving of economic rewards (cf. Why should those who have the good luck to be the kind of person who works hard deserve to earn more than those who have the bad luck to be the kind of person who doesn"t. Rawls: "argues that we don"t deserve our place in the distribution of native endowments any more than we deserve our initial starting place. Also points out that it"s easier to strive conscientiously if you"re talented due to arbitrary circumstances. Adults" ability of adults to do things valued by others depends a lot on what they did as children.
