Egalitarianism

Egalitarianism (from French égal, meaning 'equal'), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that prioritizes equality for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all human persons are equal in fundamental worth or moral status. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term has two distinct definitions in modern English, namely either as a political doctrine that all people should be treated as equals and have the same political, economic, social and civil rights, or as a social philosophy advocating the removal of economic inequalities among people, economic egalitarianism, or the decentralization of power. Some sources define egalitarianism as the point of view that equality reflects the natural state of humanity. Some specifically focused egalitarian concerns include communism, legal egalitarianism, luck egalitarianism, political egalitarianism, gender egalitarianism, racial equality, equality of outcome and Christian egalitarianism. Common forms of egalitarianism include political and philosophical. One argument is that liberalism provides democratic societies with the means to carry out civic reform by providing a framework for developing public policy and providing the right conditions for individuals to achieve civil rights. The English Bill of Rights of 1689 and the United States Constitution use only the term person in operative language involving fundamental rights and responsibilities, except for (a) a reference to men in the English Bill of Rights regarding men on trial for treason; and (b) a rule of proportional Congressional representation in the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. As the rest of the Constitution, in its operative language the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution uses the term person, stating that 'nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws'. An example of this form is the Tunisian Constitution of 2014 which provides that 'men and women shall be equal in their rights and duties'. The motto 'Liberté, égalité, fraternité' was used during the French Revolution and is still used as an official motto of the French government. The 1789 Rights of Man and of the Citizen French Constitution is framed also with this basis in equal rights of mankind. The Declaration of Independence of the United States is an example of an assertion of equality of men as 'All men are created equal' and the wording of men and man is a reference to both men and women, i.e. mankind. John Locke is sometimes considered the founder of this form.