Egalitarianism Is, at Its Root,

Egalitarianism is, at its root, the idea that people should be equals, or at least treated as equals in some respect. It includes the idea that all people should have equal political, economic, social, and civil rights. Common forms of egalitarianism include material, moral, gender, and racial egalitarianism.

Belief in egalitarianism has blossomed, especially in Western countries, in the past 200 years. The United States Declaration of Independence contains egalitarian ideas, although the roots of this may be traced back to the Christian idea that God has equal love for all human souls (Arneson, 2002).

Egalitarianism has been criticized on the grounds that it ends up punishing those who have more than others. Although we all may be created equal, inequality results from many causes, and can egalitarianism can ultimately end up punishing those who are unequal (Landauer and Rowlands, 2001). For example, those with nurturing and loving parents tend to raise children who end up doing better in life than those without nurturing parents. These privileged children may attend better schools, get better jobs, earn more money, and even have better personal relationships.

Ultimately, these differences in salaries and personal relationships can create a great deal of resentment. The individuals with less resent those who have more. On the other hand, those who have better jobs and relationships are often burdened with guilt over their relatively good luck. As Landauer and Rowlands (2001) note, "Egalitarianism manifests itself as hatred of those that are successful."

If we take egalitarianism to its natural conclusion, it simply means that everyone must be equal. This can mean that egalitarianism would be fulfilled if all people were starving and diseased, but not fulfilled if a few people were healthy and fed.

Egalitarianism can be seen as a great hatred of what is good. The goal of egalitarianism can be to make the rich poor, make the beautiful ugly, and make the strong weak (Landauer and Rowlands, 2001).

Supporters of egalitarianism would argue, however, that egalitarianism seeks to improve the lot of all humans, rather than reduce their condition. In their view, egalitarianism seeks to make the poor rich, make the weak strong, and make the ugly beautiful.

However, there are many problems with the actual implementation of egalitarianism. For example, are human fetuses to be considered equal to adults? Are some animals to be considered equal to either humans or other animals? Can the ideal of egalitarianism truly reconcile with some facts of inequality? For example, can we truly consider a person born with a severe mental handicap as equal, at least intellectually, with a person with a genius IQ?