Many of us might think to see these two words as interchangeable. They really aren't - especially if you looked up the definition for each. It is easy to think of examples where both fairness and equality existed in the same context. Your job is to think about what makes these two concepts different. It is easy to see how treating two people equally is fair treatment. Likewise, it is easy to see how unequal treatment is unfair treatment. But what about when the two terms are different? Can you be given the same treatment (equal) as someone else who is in the same situation, and still perceive that treatment as unfair? OR Can you be given totally different treatment than someone who is in exactly the same situation as you are, yet still perceive that treatment as fair for you? Provide an example in your life where this has happened or else create an example that illustrates how this could be true.
Posts: 470 | Location: Augusta, Georgia, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
the one situation that comes to mind where equal treatment was not fair treatment is in the punishment of a child.....say you have two children, one child has misbehaved and you now will not take them to the park to play.
Both children now have to stay inside the house. Child A (the bad child) is being treated fairly in terms of what he did - he is being punished. Child B (the good child) has done nothing wrong and is being treated unfairly as he is not being punished but still doesn't get to play.
So - the children both have to stay inside - so they are being treated "equally" - - meaning exactly the same. It is fair to punish child A, but by treating child B equally, it is no longer fair.
The idea of a graduated income tax applies, by definition unequally. Yet in the sense that it demands more from those who can more readily give (where in fact its aim at social fairness hasn't been totally corrupted by all kinds of tax loopholes favoring the rich), I find it eminently fair.
Posts: 2612 | Location: Upper U.S. | Registered: 06-11-02
