Eguaglianza nel mercato e libertà sociale

Market Equality and Social Freedom

Abstract disponibile solo in lingua inglese

1. There is a dispute in Dewsbury between parents claiming the right to choose the school their children attend and the Council's 'social mix' policy.
2. But can freedom and equality conflict? Distinguish: negative freedom: absence of obstacles to desires; positive freedom: the ability to live a proper life for a free agent; negative equality (equity): equal basic status; positive equality (egality): equal full share in the social enterprise.
3. Libertarians and social democrats interpret liberalism differently, the former without consideration for the general good yet overestimating the scope of egality.
4. Hence, although Mill's liberal freedom "to pursue our own good in our own way" is not negative, it fails to impose a conception of the good.
5. The moral concept of trust is all-important in free-market and other societies and demands that liberals impose a public good involving shared morality.