Economic Justice: Kant and 'Merit'

In this presentation, I would like to focus on Kant’s discussion of equality of opportunity in the 'Rechtslehre', specifically at 6: 329. As a first step, I examine an influential interpretation of Kant’s discussion and show how is attempts to dissociate Kant from the very notion of merit [Verdienst] that he is using in the discussion of equal opportunities. Next, I examine the notion of merit usually associated with Kant’s theory of justice, and claim that it is distinct from the notion employed at 6:329. Finally, I reconstruct this neglected notion by drawing on contemporary discussions of desertism and luck-egalitarianism.