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This essay will discuss a comment made by John Kleinig (1982) in respect of his views on the principle of equality and how it should relate to social equality. It will also discuss, how simply attempting to interpret equality at even a basic level raises many questions and the ethical implications that arise when education is used to achieve differing principles of equality, or to rectify society’s ills.
Kleinig (1982) says “If we are to make use of the principle of equality at all it needs to be one concerned with social equality, for only so can it amount to anything. ... 131) Kleinig makes this statement at the end of his paper in the summary, in an attempt (it seems) to clarify his position, his own understanding of equality. ...
While the formal term of equality states “The condition or quality of being equal; agreement in quantity or degree as compared; likeness in bulk, value, rank, properties, etc” (BrainyDictionary, 2003; Hyperdictionary, 2003; Zimmerman, 2001), it tends to be more understand in terms of an egalitarianism ideal, which is “the theory that each individual, as such, has an equal right to happiness or the means thereto” (Haynes, 1998, p. ...
Social equality (or equal opportunity) is used interchangeably with the terms social justice and equity (Sturman, 1997, p.1), and the different perceptions these terms create means that, like such terms as community or democracy, equality has multiple meanings and these meanings depend upon the context in which they are being used (Kleinig, 1982).
Strike and Ternasky (1993:4 cited in Haynes, 1998), argue that philosophers often worry more about the structure of arguments or the meaning of terms [particularly in respect of ethics and assuming that equality is an ethical position] than about what is right or wrong” (p. ... This is seen as Kleinig explores in his article a possible (but not exhaustible) eight different perceptions of equality (Kleinig, 1982) and while clarification of meaning is obviously important to enable clear arguments, it comes across as irrelevant if the author fails to make clear his own actual position.
Approximate Word count = 1495
Approximate Pages = 6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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