Abstract

How to make interpersonal comparisons is one of the most important questions to address in the discussion of distributive justice. This paper discusses two of the most relevant dividing lines in the literature of interpersonal comparison: between a monistic and pluralistic approach to interpersonal comparison, and between a subjectivist and objectivist standard of interpersonal comparison. The paper provides a normative argument for pluralism and objectivism with regard to interpersonal comparison, and it suggests that the Capability Approach as developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum fits these criteria.