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Positional Goods and Social Equality: Examining the Convergence Thesis.

¹Institute of Philosophy, Nova University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.

Res Publica (Liverpool, England)

|August 11, 2023

Summary

Philosophers debate the convergence thesis for positional goods like education and wealth. A modified thesis suggests that social or relational egalitarianism can be achieved by focusing on equal distribution of citizenship status.

Keywords:

Levelling down Positional goods Priority Relational equality Social equality Sufficiency

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Area of Science:

Political Philosophy
Social Ethics
Distributive Justice

Background:

The convergence thesis posits that different ethical theories (prioritarianism, sufficientarianism, egalitarianism) may agree on distributing positional goods equally.
Positional goods are those valued for their relative standing, such as education and wealth.
Existing arguments for the convergence thesis face challenges when applied to specific goods.

Purpose of the Study:

To critically examine the application of the convergence thesis to education and wealth.
To propose and defend a modified version of the convergence thesis.
To demonstrate the significance of this modified thesis for social or relational egalitarianism.

Main Methods:

Philosophical analysis and argumentation.
Conceptual clarification of positional goods and ethical theories.
Examination of existing literature on distributive justice and the convergence thesis.

Main Results:

The standard convergence thesis encounters significant problems when applied to education and wealth.
A revised version of the convergence thesis is presented that avoids these identified problems.
This revised thesis has direct implications for understanding and achieving relational egalitarianism.

Conclusions:

The convergence thesis, in its original form, is problematic for key positional goods.
A modified convergence thesis offers a more robust framework for ethical distribution.
Citizenship status emerges as a central good for social or relational egalitarianism under this revised thesis.