Pogge suggests that the problem of global poverty could be easily solved by a certain degree of redistribution. This claim seems to rely on an analogy to the operation of redistribution in what we might consider well-ordered societies. Here, borders are to a certain extent closed and population grows at a slow rate. This means that the amount of goods within the society exists relative to a somewhat static population. Contrastingly, on a global level, from a Malthusian point of view, population seems to exist on the margins of resource availability: For Malthus, redistribution would not help, because population would always exist on the margin of available resources.
At the same time, within well-0rdered societies, standards of living seem to exist relative to an ever-expanding and growing conception of what qualifies as a good life - this reflects Rousseau's conception of inequality. Given these two bounds - on the one hand, ever-growing resource dependence as wealth increases, and, on the other hand, increases in population relative to the amount of resources available as wealth decreases, to what extent is just redistribution possible on a global scale? To what extent is the structure of global inequality, which Pogge criticizes, a function of biological/demographic constraints, rather than a matter of moral choice? Is there a reason, as per Nagel, that the sovereign state limits our capacity for redistribution? To what extent would a restructuring of inequality change the dynamics of population growth? Finally, how does the entire issue of human wealth clash if we add the earth as a third party affected by not just resource distribution, but resource production?
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Pogge, Justice, and Distribution
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