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It is not the case that Distributional issues such as egalitarian evaluation require interpersonal comparisons of well-being, which can be understood in terms of utilities.
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Reasons For
2 perspectives
Reason for 1 of 2
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1.
Sen's capability approach demonstrates that well-being comparisons require evaluating what people can do and be, not merely their utility levels.
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2.
Utility functions systematically fail to capture adaptive preferences, where oppressed individuals adjust desires to constrained circumstances.
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3.
Egalitarian evaluation grounded in utilities therefore obscures rather than reveals genuine distributive injustice.
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Reason for 2 of 2
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1.
Rawls's veil of ignorance argument establishes that just distributive principles must be chosen without knowledge of interpersonal utility comparisons.
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2.
If interpersonal utility comparisons were foundational to egalitarian evaluation, Rawls's difference principle would require cardinal utility data it deliberately excludes.
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3.
Therefore, robust egalitarian frameworks like Rawlsian justice are logically independent of interpersonal utility comparisons.
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Reasons Against
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Reason against
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1.
Egalitarian evaluation of allocations requires determining who the worst-off individuals are.
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2.
Determining who is worst-off requires comparing levels of well-being across individuals.
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3.
Utility functions provide a natural framework for expressing such interpersonal comparisons.
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