Sharing Nature's Bounty: The Moral Case for a Universal Equal Endowment of Resources and its Implication for Taxation Policy

1 October 2010 - 30 June 2012

CI/s in Exeter: Professor Robert Lamb

Funding awarded: £ 178,025

Sponsor(s): AHRC

About the research

Although a shared commitment to equality can be identified in contemporary political philosophy, there is no consensus on what that commitment actually entails in terms of the distribution of goods within society. One influential movement within this debate is that which has been called 'left-libertarianism'. Left-libertarians attempt to synthesise our moral intuitions about both freedom and equality, demonstrating that the two concepts need not conflict, as ideological debate in the past has often suggested. Two principles are foundational in left-libertarian theory: first, that individuals have rights against interference by others; second, that no individuals have any special claims to the world's resources, and that the world's resources should therefore be shared out equally amongst everyone. According to left-libertarians, everyone should receive an endowment of resources at the start of their lives, or a basic income throughout their lives, representing their share of the world's resources.

Sharing Nature's Bounty aims to clarify the moral case for the left-libertarian endowments proposal, to examine its relationship to luck-egalitarian theories of justice, and to explore its political implications, seeking to bridge the gap between theory and practice. We will provide a philosophical articulation and defence of the underlying left-libertarian moral commitment to equality, and show what sort of equal endowment of resources is most suitable for the realisation of that commitment. We will ask how to determine the appropriate size of the proposed endowment, and whether individuals should receive a one-off endowment at the start of their lives, or a basic income throughout their lives. We also will also address questions about the meaning and justification of justice in general.
Unlike many other studies of its kind, this project aims to go beyond the traditional scope of philosophical discussions to examine the political implications of the equal endowment policy proposed. In particular, we will focus on the extent to which left-libertarian proposals require government taxation, and consider how such taxation should be implemented. We will focus particular attention on the implications of our research for global justice, examining how the endowments proposal could be implemented at the international level.

The project will involve two Investigators at the University of Exeter - Dr. Keith Hyams and Dr. Robert Lamb - and a PhD student, Christopher Nathan, also based at Exeter. It aims to answer important questions within contemporary political philosophy, to build capacity in this area of research and to develop networks around the project themes.

The project will involve two Investigators at the University of Exeter and a PhD student, also based at Exeter. It aims to answer important questions within contemporary political philosophy, to build capacity in this area of research, to develop networks around the project themes.
The project also aims to develop the use our research in real-world policy making decisions. In order to acheive this aim, in addition to the academic articles and two manuscripts that we will publish, we will also write articles for publications with more general readerships such as The Economist magazine and The New Statesman.

We will hold annual workshops and a large final-year conference involving participants from academia and beyond, including policy makers, think tanks and civil-society organisations.

Link to grant on Art and Humanities Research Council website.