Egalitarianism
Egalitarianism (from French égal 'equal'; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people.
[1] Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all humans are equal in fundamental worth or moral status.
By promoting equal opportunities, egalitarianism aims to level the playing field and reduce disparities that result from social inequalities.
[17] The egalitarian management style focusses on the approach to democratize power, decision-making, and responsibility and distributed them more evenly among all members of a team or organization.
[18] Many philosophers, including Ingmar Persson,[19] Peter Vallentyne,[20] Nils Holtug,[21] Catia Faria[22] and Lewis Gompertz,[23] have argued that egalitarianism implies that the interests of non-human animals must be taken into account as well.
[24] In 1957, Martin Luther King Jr. quoted Galatians 3:28 ("There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus"[25]) in a pamphlet opposing racial segregation in the United States.
[29] Karin Neutel notes how some apply the philosophy of Paul's statement to include sexuality, health and race saying "[The original] three pairs must have been as relevant in the first century, as the additional categories are today."
[27] The verse 49:13 of The Quran states: "O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another.
[citation needed] In a review of Louise Marlow's Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought, Ismail Poonawala argues the desire for the Arab-Muslim Empire to consolidate power and administer the state rather led to the deemphasis of egalitarian teachings in the Qur'an and by the Prophet.
[33]: 121 Accordingly, they argue that egalitarians have no power except through their presence, unless they (by definition, reluctantly) embrace principles which enable them to cooperate with fatalists and hierarchies.
Thus, the fabric of an egalitarian society is held together by cooperation and implicit peer pressure rather than by explicit rules and punishment.
[33]: 158 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels believed that an international proletarian revolution would bring about a socialist society which would then eventually give way to a communist stage of social development which would be a classless, stateless, moneyless, humane society erected on common ownership of the means of production and the principle of "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs".
[citation needed] Allen Woods finds that Marx's view of classlessness was not the subordination of society to a universal interest such as a universal notion of equality, but it was about the creation of the conditions that would enable individuals to pursue their true interests and desires, making Marx's notion of communist society radically individualistic.
[36] Although his position is often confused or conflated with distributive egalitarianism in which only the goods and services resulting from production are distributed according to notional equality, Marx eschewed the entire concept of equality as abstract and bourgeois, preferring to focus on more concrete principles such as opposition to exploitation on materialist grounds and economic logic.
[38] Rothbard argued that egalitarianism was a misguided attempt to impose an artificial equality on individuals, which would ultimately lead to societal breakdown.
He believed that attempts to force equality through government policies or other means would stifle individual freedom and prevent people from pursuing their own interests and passions.
[39] The term has been used as the claimed philosophical basis of Telosa, a proposed utopia to be built in the United States by Marc Lore.
