Equality Of Resources Dworkin Analysis

Discussant Piece
Equality of Resources by Ronald Dworkin in Sovereign Virtue

The discussion in the class began from taking into account the two theories of equality as provided by Ronald Dworkin in his work i.e. Equality of Welfare and Equality of Resources.
But before we discuss equality, it is also necessary to talk about the inequality which usually arises out of the choices made or because of the circumstances. Thus, Dworkin’s theories of equality consider the inequality of any kind and works on the general notion of ‘Equal treatment’.
Though, the main focus is upon the Equality of Resources but in order to better understand the same we first discussed in the class, the Equality of Welfare which is to be seen in the light of the ‘Ethical

The next major point of discussion under the Equality of Welfare was the problem of Expensive taste which in my opinion is somewhat in contrast with the egalitarianism or welfarism. I think that focusing to such an extent on the expensive tastes of people will itself endanger the whole notion of the equality of welfare and thus, here I see no harm in implementing the Utilitarian principle and let the focus shift from individual utility to collective utility.
Dworkin further presents arguments to show that the theory of welfare is not so coherent one by exemplifying hard cases as that of the handicapped (say Jade’s example) and even proves that the theory of welfare is a weaker one as it may prima faice look good but eventually may fail under hard

As many people will be utilizing those resources so as to reach a better position, when compared to others. Such differences may be that of skill, health, labour etc.
So, the next proposed solution is that of Insurance in order to curb the inequality reached mainly because of either option luck or brute luck. Where the inequality arising due to option luck is not a problem, the inequality caused by the brute luck is an issue as it involves risk which no one willingly choose. In the case of the optional luck, on the other hand, the person has the option to remove the risk, may be by concentrating more on the initial just and equal distribution or may be by computing the risk during distribution itself but any how it fails to qualify the envy test.
Thus comes into frame the notion of insurance, so as to convert the brute luck into an optional one by taking the insurance. Also, the concept is not just confined to insurance rather it also covers the insurance of the disabled where the notion of disability is so wide so as to cover the mental as well physical disability. However, my question is whether we will be able to convert the brute luck into an optional luck? Whether it is an efficient means in the cases of health/