This is a succinct, coherent, and wide-ranging history of distributive justice that will be a boon for teachers and students. Written with a light touch, it will provoke discussion and thought, raising the possibility of seeing things differently. A fine contribution.

  Acknowledgments

  Abbreviations

  Introduction

1 From Aristotle to Adam Smith

 1. Two Kinds of Justice 19

 2. The Right of Necessity 28

 3. Property Rights 34

 4. Communal Experiments and Utopian Writings 40

 5. Poor Laws 48

2 The Eighteenth Century

 1. Citizen Equality: Rousseau 55

 2. Changing Our Picture of the Poor: Smith 62

 3. The Equal Worth of Human Beings: Kant 68

 4. To the Vendome Palais de Justice: Babeuf 75

3 From Babeuf to Rawls

 1. Reaction 83

 2. Positivists 94

 3. Marx 96

 4. Utilitarians 103

 5. Rawls 109

 6. After Rawls 116

  Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index