Fostering a Sense of Fairness Homepage - Left Column

The Challenge

The transformation of deep divisions within a society and the overcoming of a past history of unrightable wrongs makes it possible for communities to consider working together in mutually beneficial ways. Still, it is unreasonable to expect people to be able to successfully cooperate without some sort of agreed-upon moral foundation for fairly resolving distributional conflicts over "who gets what." There also needs to be legitimate procedures for resolving moral conflicts over what values will be enforced; and for resolving status conflicts over the relative authority of competing groups. The establishment of such principles fairness requires that the following problems are addressed:

• How Much Is Too Much -- The principal fairness question involves agreed-upon limits on the concentration of wealth and power and what can appropriately be done to redistribute wealth when inequality becomes too great. Similar questions relate to the distribution of status and power -- how much inequality is acceptable, how much is unfair, and what can be done to remedy inequities.
• Limits of Tolerance -- In general, tolerance is a critical precondition for the effective governance of diverse societies. However, tolerance has its limits. There must be a point where belief systems run afoul of fundamental human rights and, as such, should be challenged by the broader society or perhaps other societies.
• Commonality -- In the world where the focus seems to have shifted sharply toward the celebration of diversity, we need to re-discover and celebrate points of commonality – those cross-cultural universals that bind humankind together and provide a moral basis for collective governance.
• Responsibilities and Obligations -- Social acceptance of the moral principles of fairness are of little value unless they are backed up by accompanying principals that assign responsibility for assuring that society acts fairly. For example, with respect to political rights, fairness requires that there be governance institutions be empowered to enforce those rights through moral condemnation and, if that fails, direct force. Similarly the granting of economic rights for such things as food, housing, and healthcare requires that someone recognize that they are obligated to provide those goods and services. It's not enough to say that it "ought to be done"-- someone must recognize that "they ought to do it."