The Anatomy of Justice: On the Shape, Substance, and Power of Liberal Egalitarianism

The Anatomy of Justice argues for a reorientation in liberal egalitarian theorizing about justice. Gina Schouten argues that the orientation she proposes supports compelling resolutions to longstanding disputes and difficulties internal to egalitarianism, as well as compelling defenses of liberalism against feminist and egalitarian critics.

On the orthodox approach, a theory of liberal egalitarian justice comprises a set of normative principles to guide the design and workings of social institutions. Schouten argues that we should instead think of theory’s most important product as evaluative discernment. Theorizing should aim to discern with as much precision as possible the achievements, or values, by realization of which a society can be more rather than less just. Schouten offers a weighted specification of the values of justice, which she calls ＂the anatomy of justice,＂ and she makes the case for the anatomy by letting it flex its muscles.

First, the anatomy of justice resolves difficulties internal to liberal egalitarianism, in part by deflating longstanding debates, like the debate about whether equality is fundamentally a distributive or a relational value.

Second, the anatomy provides systematic and plausible guidance for addressing injustice. By precisifying the values of justice, the anatomy supports a unified liberal egalitarianism that could be developed to describe the ideally just society, but that also, and more importantly, provides guidance for improving an unjust society. That’s because the very same values that are optimally realized in a just society also provide guidance in circumstances of profound injustice, even if the normative principles those values underpin differ across circumstances. Because the anatomy offers a modular framework for theorizing justice across (just and) unjust circumstances, it is more broadly and concretely helpful than normative theory is often thought to be.

Finally, the anatomy underpins compelling defences against criticisms of liberalism from the left. The book aims to demonstrate that feminist liberal egalitarianism is viable and valuable for progressive politics. To make the case, Schouten shows that the anatomy of justice serves as a possibility proof for what liberal egalitarianism can do. she assembles the fundamental, definitive commitments of liberal egalitarianism in a novel way to reveal liberalism’s radical potential.

Regina Schouten, Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University

Gina Schouten is Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University. She writes on justice and legitimacy, egalitarianism, feminism, and education. Her first book, Liberalism, Neutrality, and the Gendered Division of Labor, considers the legitimacy of political intervention aimed at eroding the gendered division of labor and draws insights about the compatibility of liberal legitimacy with feminist aims. Beyond her major research areas, she has written on diversity problems in philosophy, the ethics and politics of abortion, and non-ideal theory in political philosophy. Before Harvard, she taught at Illinois State University (2013-2016). She received her PhD from University of Wisconsin-Madison (2013) and her BA from Ball State University (2006).