Author

Contributions

  • Brennan, Patrick M., 1966- - Contributor
  • Witte, John, 1959- - Contributor

Publication

1999 - Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J, New Jersey

Language

English

Word Count

90,500 words, Guess

Page Count

362 pages

Identifiers

and 3 more
  • Library of Congress Control Number98041031
  • Goodreads2690686
  • LibraryThing3693327

Classifications

  • DDC305/.01
  • LCCHM146 .C66 1999

Description

What do we mean when we refer to people as being equal by nature? In the first book devoted to human equality as a fact rather than as a social goal or a legal claim, John Coons and Patrick Brennan argue that even if people possess unequal talents or are born into unequal circumstances, all may still be equal if it is true that human nature provides them the same access to moral self-perfection. Plausibly, in the authors' view, such access stems from the power of individuals to achieve goodness simply by doing the best they can to discover and perform correct actions. If people enjoy the same degree of natural capacity to try, all of us are offered the same opportunities for moral self-fulfillment. To believe this is to believe in equality. This truly interdisciplinary work not only proposes the authors' own rationale but also provides an effective deconstruction of several other contemporary theories of equality, while it engages historical, philosophical, and Christian accounts as well.

Subjects

Series Statement

  • New forum books

Other Editions

  • By nature equal: the anatomy of a Western insightPrinceton University Press1999-01-01

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