A Short History of Distributive Justice

"A fascinating account of the development of our contemporary notion of distributive justice." (Stephen Darwall, University of Michigan, author of Welfare and Rational Care)

Distributive justice in its modern sense calls on the state to guarantee that everyone is supplied with a certain level of material means. Samuel Fleischacker argues that guaranteeing aid to the poor is a modern idea, developed only in the last two centuries.

Earlier notions of justice, including Aristotle's, were conc...