Kok-Chor Tan, “Justice, Institutions, and Luck: The Site, Ground, and Scope of Equality” (Oxford UP, 2012)
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Who is the guest and what is the new book that will be discussed?
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Welcome to the New Books in Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talese. I'm Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, and I co-host the channel with Kari Figter. Today, my guest is Professor Kokchor Tan. We'll be talking about his new book, Justice, Institutions, and Luck, which was just published with Oxford University Press.
How does the book define luck‑egalitarianism and why is it intuitively appealing?
Kokchor is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. These days, those who think about justice tend to be egalitarian. Egalitarians hold that justice requires the equal distribution of something, or at least they hold that Deviations from an equal distribution of that thing require serious justifications. Egalitarian political philosophers have long been divided over the details of egalitarianism. One may ask, what or who does the distributing? Why is equality the baseline or the goal? And to whom is egalitarian justice owed? A popular and in some circles infamous interpretation of egalitarianism called luck egalitarianism holds that egalitarian justice is primarily concerned with correcting the influence of luck on social advantage and disadvantage.
The thought driving luck egalitarianism is that individuals should not be socially disadvantaged or for that matter advantaged for features of their lives that have simply befallen them. Rather, social disadvantage and advantage should be tied to an individual's choices. Now, stated as such, this moral principle looks deeply attractive. But once one takes up the task of spelling out the details of a luck egalitarian theory of social justice, many difficulties arise. Just to cite one such difficulty, some critics have wondered... whether luck egalitarianism would hold that ugly people are entitled to socially subsidized cosmetic surgery. After all, one's looks are a matter of luck. In Justice Institutions and Luck, Cocteau-Tan formulates and defends a distinctive and original theory of luck egalitarianism.
He holds that luck egalitarianism is concerned not with luck as such, but rather with the ways in which social institutions transform matters of luck into advantage and disadvantage. From this starting point, Tan develops a global luck egalitarianism. Now, there's a lot to talk about here, so let's turn to the interview. Hello, Kak Chor Tan. Hello, Bob. Welcome. How are you doing this morning?
Very well, thank you. And thank you for inviting me to your books on philosophy. I'm looking forward to talking to you.
Well, I'm looking forward to talking to you too about your book. Thank you for joining us. Today, I'm talking with Cocteau Tan about his new book, Justice, Institutions, and Luck, The Site, Ground, and Scope of Equality, which was published this year with Oxford University Press.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the opening sponsorship and introductory material for this episode?
0:00–1:08
2
Who is the guest and what is the new book that will be discussed?
1:08–1:44
3
How does the book define luck‑egalitarianism and why is it intuitively appealing?
1:44–7:07
4
What are the three main questions (site, ground, scope) that structure the book?
7:07–37:05
5
How did the author's experience at the United Nations shape his view on global justice?
37:05–1:18:03
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
Robert A. Wilson, "Kin Matters: Relational Beings in the Fragile Sciences" (Oxford UP, 2026)
Jonathan Quong, "Political Philosophy: The Puzzle of Legitimate Injustice" (Princeton UP, 2026)
Daniel Cohnitz and Jussi Haukioja, "Foundations for Metasemantics" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Philippe Huneman, "When Metaphysics Meets Biology: Kantian Approaches to the Concept of An Organism" (Routledge, 2026)
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)