Liberal Equality

by Amy Gutmann

This book makes a significant contribution to the tradition of liberal political it explores the foundations and limits of the idea of equality within that theory and offers a sustained argument for a persuasive new view of liberalism. Liberal thinking has always displayed a tension between the claims of liberty and those of equality. Professor Gutmann examines the contributions of liberal theorists from Locke to Rawls on the subject of two kinds of equality - equality of opportunity to participate and the equal distribution of economic goods. Valuing both, she shows that, far from being alternatives, the two ideals are compatible to a much greater degree than has previously been thought. Liberal Equality restores egalitarianism to political theory in a way that will forcefully challenge its critics to deeper reflection.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 1980

About the author

Amy Gutmann is the 8th President of the University of Pennsylvania and the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Communications, and Philosophy. She is a political theorist who taught at Princeton University from 1976 to 2004 and served as its Provost.

Reviews

[Jim Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive and thoughtful defence of the liberal egalitarian position that also includes good accounts of other, related postions, both to her political right and the left (eg, Nozick and Rawls, to mention only two).

The author has a great CV, too, as a scholar, an academic administrator and, since 2022, as a political office holder (when she was appointed by President Biden to become America’s ambassador to Germany).