Principles and Policies

Abstract

We can separate theories of distributive justice into three elements: moral principles (for example, treating people equally), rules of justice (for example, the average principle), and a particular distribution. The principles define the rules and the rules generate the distribution. In this chapter I have set myself two tasks: first, to question whether it makes sense to look for unique principles and whether hypothetical constructs are useful to compare principles; and second, whether there is a relation between principles for distributive justice and policies.