Meanings of social goods: scope in distributive justice

Abstract

The ethical principles of distributive justice are established through the importance and meaning that different theoretical positions confer on social goods. An analysis of the limitations in a plural and equitable society by favoring only one type of social good is presented. The objective is to contrast three philosophical currents that approach the theory of justice through proposals of different precursors in the subject and to conclude with a proposal that includes different goods that guarantee the diversity of life plans and circumstances. The first belongs to the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill; the second is by Rawls, a liberal philosopher; the third incorporates Sen's "capabilities"; the fourth proposal corresponds to the philosopher of the communitarian tradition, Walzer. Finally, Scanlon's "moral contractualist theory" is included. Therefore, it is impossible to privilege a single type of social good; the inclusion of the diversity of meanings and contexts is proposed as elements that integrate philosophical ethical principles for the development of a just and inclusive society. The method used is the analysis and comparison of the authors in order to find convergences and divergences among them, which allows to broaden the research to contextualize each theoretical position.