Ronald Dworkin on Equality: In Memoriam Ronald Dworkin (1931-2013)

The legal and political philosopher Ronald Dworkin died today in London. He was 81.

I must admit that I have never deeply immersed myself in Dworkin’s work. I have been intrigued by his legal philosophy, but I am not familiar with those debates well enough to fully follow them.

I found Dworkin’s discussion of the Original Position in the work of John Rawls helpful in coming to my own view of that mechanism of Rawls (Dworkin, 1977).

What I have most admired about Dworkin was his argument for equality. In honor of Dworkin, I would like to share a clip of him articulating the significance of equality in December of 2011.

The above video is from a Carnegie Council event took place on December 6, 2011. Complete audio and transcript can be found here.

Dworkin, Ronald, 1977, ‘Justice and Rights,’ in R. Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 150–83.