Distributive justice and political ideologies: a reply to volacu

Abstract

The article represents a reply to several of the points raised by Alexandru Volacu in his recent article "On the Ideological Incompatibilities of Distributive Justice". In his work, Volacu attempts a comparison between the concept of distributive justice and several political ideologies, as epitomized in different party manifestos and platforms. In Volacu's view, distributive justice requires social democracy and is compatible with ideologies such as feminism or environmentalism. Alternatively, distributive justice cannot be reconciled with anarchism or Marxist communism. In the present article, I argue against Volacu's understanding of the very idea of distributive justice and conceptualize it as a field of philosophical investigation where the main issue of debate is the principle distribution of primordially economic benefits. Further, I establish a distinction between patterns of distributive justice and principles of distributive justice. Then, I criticize Volacu’s reading of the relationship between anarchism and distributive justice, but reach identical conclusions. Finally, I object to Volacu's conception of Marxism and of the European Left Party Manifesto.