Fred Feldman, “Distributive Justice: Getting What We Deserve from Our Country” (Oxford UP, 2016)
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What is desertism and how does Feldman define the “currency of justice”?
Hello and thanks for joining us for this episode of New Books in Philosophy. I'm Robert Talise, I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. And I co host the programme with Carrie Figner, and Carrie is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Iowa. My guest today is Fred Feldman. Fred is Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His new book is titled Distributive Justice: Getting What We Deserve from Our Country, and it's published by Oxford University Press. It's a fantastic book. And in it, Fred resuscitates and revives and revises. A view of distributive justice that for a long time most political philosophers had considered um Uh debunked or moribund or
uh in some other way debilitated. Um To be more specific, Fred has proposed an original and I think quite sturdy uh version of dessertism. about distributive justice. Now speaking very roughly, desertism is the view according to which justice prevails in a society. When all of its members get what they deserve. That phrase. from whatever entity has the job of enacting justice. Now that's entirely too sketchy, of course. And um as we'll see uh I think in the conversation to come. Um sort of removing some of the the the sketchiness and getting more precise is is really uh uh uh the task for the desertist, um and um Professor Feldman's main task in the book. Um Now um so On the other hand, we might say desertism, even in the sketchy form, um, seems so uh obviously correct as to not need a theory.
Um After all, what could be more simple? Uh Uh what else could justice be but a state of affairs where everyone gets her due? Um but uh again, as Feldman shows, uh things aren't simple. uh with desertism a lot of nuances required. He's in the business in this book of providing the necessary nuance. and uh providing all the details that would be required to reveal uh desertism to be a a formidable view um with respect uh formidable view about distributive justice. So um as I've just indicated, uh There's a whole lot to talk about. Uh and I highly recommend uh uh Fred Feldman's book uh to anyone who's interested in political philosophy and certainly to anyone who works on distributive justice. Um but before we get into the details and the specifics of
Feldman's argument. Um, we usually begin uh these podcasts uh by greeting our guests. So Let me do that. Hello Fred.
Uh good morning, Bob. Thanks very much for having me. It's really a pleasure to have this chance to talk about the book.
Well, it's wonderful of you to uh to uh be generous with your time and to and to appear on the program. Um as I just uh was talking, uh uh uh I'm sure um I haven't said anything you disagree with yet. Um Dis Desertism is a very um nuanced uh view and uh your book uh introduces a lot of uh the required nuance it seems to me. Um but why don't we um start off uh by um asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself?
Okay. Well, I was uh born in uh Newark, New Jersey, and I grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey, and my best friend was a guy named Jack who lived across the street. He was a little older than me. And uh he had gone off to the university of Pennsylvania. And um I was still stuck in high school. And he came back and uh He He I said, Well what what would what did you learn? What were you doing there? And he told me this wonderful story about something that happened in his introduction to philosophy class. And it had to do with Descartes and uh The teacher said that Descartes had said, I think therefore I exist. And uh under the circumstances, Descartes was trying to find the first truth that comes to a person who reasons in an orderly way.
And the first truth was that he existed. And I thought that's really wonderful. Wow, the first truth, I exist. And then my friend Jack said to me, Well actually We also learned that Bertrand Russell had shown that this whole thing was completely hopeless because the premise, I think, was Already Presuppose the existence of the self I And that Descartes had no no justification for saying I think he hi if he was starting from scratch, he should have said, Well, there's some thinking going on here.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is desertism and how does Feldman define the “currency of justice”?
0:09–9:50
2
How does Feldman distinguish political‑economic desert from ordinary moral merit?
9:50–19:16
3
Why does Feldman argue that security, opportunity, and legal entitlement are essential “desserts”?
19:16–27:36
4
What examples does Feldman use to illustrate the difference between desert and moral merit (e.g., the twin‑brother case)?
27:36–35:35
5
How does Feldman critique egalitarian and sufficientist theories of distributive justice?
35:35–44:03
6
What is Feldman’s “sufficientist‑but‑not‑equalizing” view of justice and why does he reject simple equality?
44:03–52:48
7
Why does Feldman think desertism has been neglected in contemporary political philosophy?
52:48–1:02:48
8
What practical implications does Feldman see for his desertist theory in public policy (taxes, welfare, education, etc.)?
1:02:48–1:13:28
Speakers
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Rivka Weinberg, "The Meaning of It All: Ultimate Meaning, Everyday Meaning, Cosmic Meaning, Death, and Time" (Oxford UP, 2026)
PJ DiPietro, "Sideways Selves Travesti and Jotería, "Struggles Across the Américas" (U Texas Press, 2025)