Throughout the preceding sections, we have discussed something called an equitable person, and we have described various aspects of the person without indicating much about what an equitable person actually is besides identifying potential behaviors. We remedy that here, as it informs us of the nature and quality of relationships such a person might hold.

The right to property is the right for a person to keep in one’s possession a certain object. For said object, this right immediately reduces the rights of all other humans by a factor of one object that they could otherwise use, potentially use up completely. If you own something, then you own it to the exclusion of someone else, or there would be little point in making the claim that you own it. If I own something, yet others may freely take it from me, then I can’t be said to own that object. So ownership has two sides: it gives rights to the owner and takes rights away from everyone else.

Image by: Brianhe, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Why does it matter whether or not we have an equitable society?

This may seem a strange question. We have already pointed out that an equitable society would require putting pressures in place that pull people away from our innate need for hierarchal deference. That will require significant work. If we’re to undertake that work, we should be certain that the effort we put in produces an improvement worth the effort. To explore this, let’s look at the social benefits offered by unequal societies first, by examining several aspects of inequality from our past.

What does it mean to be an equitable society? Why do all of our attempts at building an equitable society begin from the same perspective? Is there a better world out there that we can begin to see forming and — as importantly — can we get there from here?

Follow along as Chuck begins to lay down the arguments for an equitable society. Happy fourth of July! And may this year bring us closer to the vision!