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Two Conceptions of Inequality and Natural Difference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2005

Marguerite Deslauriers
Marguerite Deslauriers
Affiliation:
McGill University
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Abstract

Abstract. I argue in this paper that there are certain similarities between Catharine MacKinnon, on the one hand, and Mary Wollstonecraft and Jean Jacques Rousseau, on the other, in the conception of inequality and its origins. All three make two important claims that characterize their accounts of inequality: first, that inequality is not natural, and second, that the differences which are alleged to justify inequality are in fact produced by the inequality. These two claims distinguish one way of arguing for equality. I contrast this with another way of arguing for equality, one which acknowledges natural differences.

Résumé. Dans ce texte, je soutiens qu'il y a des similarités entre les conceptions de l'inégalité et de ses origines de Catharine MacKinnon d'une part et de Rousseau et Wollstonecraft d'autre part. Tous trois soutiennent deux thèses importantes qui caractérisent leur conception de l'inégalité : premièrement, l'inégalité n'est pas naturelle; deuxièmement, les différences qui sont invoquées pour justifier l'inégalité sont en fait le produit de cette inégalité. Ces deux positions sont distinctives d'une ligne d'argumentation défendant l'égalité. Je contraste cette ligne d'argumentation avec une seconde façon de défendre l'égalité qui diffère de la première en ce qu'elle reconnaît les différences naturelles.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 787 - 809
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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