How to Live · ages 6–8
What is fair?
Two kids share one cake. One is hungrier. One did the work. How should it be cut?
Fair does not always mean the same. If two children get the same slice of cake but one has just eaten, being ‘equal’ can be quite unfair.
Philosophers split this into two ideas: same for everyone (equality) and what each person needs (equity). Most real arguments about fairness are really an argument about which one you are using.
Try it on something small: there are three biscuits and four people. Now what?
Try it
Run a fair-cake trial at home. Every person writes one answer on paper with their reason, then everyone votes. Afterwards ask: did anyone change their mind? Believing something and being able to argue for it are two different skills.
What do you think?
Do you think there is a right answer to this question?
Talk about it
- When is treating people differently the fair thing to do?
- If a rule is unfair, should you follow it?
- Is it fair to be lucky?
Yes, but… — the arguments people actually make
If you give more to the hungrier one, the one who did the work is being cheated.
Only if you assume that equal shares were the fair starting point. Which difference should decide it — need, effort, or something else? You have to pick one and say why.
Life isn't fair, so why bother thinking about it?
That is true, and it is not yet an argument. 'Not always fair' and 'not worth trying to make fair' are two different claims, and the second one needs reasons.
Fair just means the same. Full stop.
Then give two children the same slice of cake, when one has just eaten. You now have an answer you do not like, which means 'the same' was not quite what you meant.
What other philosophers think
- PlatoJustice is not equal shares. It is each person doing the work they are suited to, and not grabbing what belongs to someone else.
- AristotleTreat like cases alike, and unlike cases in proportion to how unlike they are. For him fairness is a ratio, not a flat share.
- John RawlsChoose the rules as if you did not know whether you would turn out to be the hungriest or the one who did the work. He called this the veil of ignorance.
- Amartya SenAsked 'equal what?' — equal money is not the same as an equal ability to do what you want with your life.
If you want to go further
- The Republic — PlatoBook II is where the argument about justice actually starts, and it is the hardest version of it.
- A Theory of Justice — John RawlsThe veil of ignorance, 1971. Still the cleanest test for whether a rule is fair.
- Inequality Reexamined — Amartya SenFor when the word 'equal' is quietly doing all the work in your sentence.
Most of these were written for adults, which is why it is worth reading them with someone older.