Ethics

Is the phrase "All people are equal" true in any ethically relevant sense? Certainly not all people have equal abilities. Nor do we consider all people equally when making ethical judgements. So what do people mean when they say "all people are equal"?

Comments

I think it is useful to consider the claim in historical context. The idea that there is a (metaphysical?) hierarchy of human worth or value has been very influential at times. People born into certain groups have, by virtue of that very fact, been considered more worthy or valuable than others. Monarchy is one example of this, but such hierarchies are also implicit in some forms of racism, sexism, and in religions that privilege those born of members of that religion. (You might want to check out the Wikipedia entry on the Great Chain of Being as an example.)

Note, in particular, that the Declaration of Independence doesn't say that all people are equal, but "all men are created equal." The claim that we are all created equal does not mean that there are no moral differences between persons, but that we start out in life with equal moral worth -- some inalienable human dignity, some would argue -- and beyond that our moral standing is something that must be earned. (Note too that although it seems that the use of 'men' was intended as a generic, it is doubtful that women and slaves were included as of equal moral worth.)

It might seem that reading the claim as rejecting an inherent hierarchy of persons makes it irrelevant to contemporary concerns. But there is reason to think that belief in moral hierarchies, sometimes explicit and sometimes implicit, remains influential. And we must always be attentive to its effects. Also, those who hold that our moral birthright is not just equality but an inalienable human dignity that constitutes the basis for human rights (to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for example) reasonably argue that we have a long way to go before we do full justice to the idea that all persons are, in the relevant sense, equal.

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