The Contemporary Landmark In The Course Of Equality Theory

As an eternal value aspiration of mankind,equality is one of the goals pursued assiduously by many thinkers since ancient times.In the course of western equality theory,there was a great variety in understanding equality among people with different inclinations in different times and regions.However,people have something common in their conceptions of equality.It is necessary and helpful for studying Michael Walzer's pluralist conception of justice to survey different views on equality of many other thinkers in the course of western equality theory and to compare it with them.Most thinkers in ancient Greek and Roman advocated the pursuit of excellence but not equality.Modern western thinkers began to pay attention to the problem of equality.In modern and contemporary western countries,liberalism occupies the mainstream status of political philosophy,and liberties become the focus of political philosophers.Since A Theory of Justice by Rawls had been published,western political philosophers' focus shifted from liberty to equality.Among main liberalist conceptions of equality are that of equality in primary goods by Rawls,of equality in entitlement by Nozick,and of equality in resources by Dworkin,etc.Schools such as communitarianism,pluralism,western Marxism,ecologism and feminism express their own views on equality.People not only desire for equality,but also desire for excellence,that is to say,they pursue difference which can be classified into objective and subjective one.The inevitability of natural differences and acquired environmental differences among people demonstrates that differences exist objectively.People's striving for excellence demonstrates that differences are of subjectivity.Differences cannot be completely deleted,which leads equality to fall inevitably into a dilemma.To get out of the dilemma,one feasible way is to find a pluralist complex equality based on equal fundamental rights.The theory of complex equality by Walzer offers an important solution to people's pursuit of equality.The essence of complex equality lies in that people cannot make use of the goods in one social sphere for seeking the goods in another one.It opposes monopolistic domination and demands autonomic distribution.In a society of complex equality,though there exist many small inequalities,they are restricted within their respective spheres and set in openness,people thereof can gradually diminish inequalities through mutual communication so as to achieve equality.Complex equality is a kernel idea of Walzer's conceptions of justice which focuses on particularity,emphasizes regulations,appeals to balance and aims to morality.Various social spheres where complex equality is applied mainly includes economic sphere(currency and commodity,labor and leisure),political sphere(safety and welfare,public office and political power),educational sphere(fundamental and higher education)and other spheres(Kinship and love,divine mercy).Complex equality has its remarkably theoretical superiority and certain practical limitations.Among the main achievements of Walzer 's equality theory are that it opens up the pluralist horizon and innovates the hermeneutic method for equality theory,and highlights complex equality with political hue.His pluralist conception of justice with the core of complex equality is characteristic of situationalism and weak idealism,as well as moderate relativism and anti-essentialism.Walzer's conception of justice can cast some enlightenment upon the construction the well-ordered society in today's China.China's equality dilemma finds itself mainly in wealth and power,whose main causes can be summed up as follows:inequality in family background,inequality in natural endowments,differences in individual effort and opportunities,and unclear boundaries among all professions.Boundary should be demarcated for money's application fields to narrow the huge gap between the rich and the poor,and all kinds of power should be executed under the frame of institutions to prevent them from transgressing and rent-seeking.It is a long rough way to realize fully the value of justice in economic,politic,and cultural dimensions in today's China.