What is Desert?
John Rawl’s Definition
Aristotle believed that in a just society, there cannot be one universal desert for everyone. Aristotle stated that the aristocrats, oligarchs, and the demos all have different merits. The three classes: aristocrats, oligarchs, and demos each have different desert and they are virtue, money, and freedom respectively. It would be unjust to base merit on one sole idea for all classes. Modern philosophers like John Rawls followed up on the idea of merit with his own principles of justice.
An idea that Rawls had was the difference principle, which demanded economic inequalities arranged to the greatest benefit of the least well off. The profit within a company should be distributed among its workers according to this rule. There should be a maximal minimum. The profit should be arranged to benefit the least well off, those without knowledge, but it should be equal for all. Those with knowledge and skills should be paid more still. Rawls would want the most happiness for the most people.
Aristotle believed that desert should also be just and contribute to the community. Rawls’ difference principle does abide to this belief. By keeping most of the people in the community happy, essentially the community would be happy. In matters where two companies through partnership create a profit, the money should be divided based on contribution, such as money or knowledge. If company A contributes more, it should receive more profit, but it should not take too much that it will cause company B to be unhappy. The profit should be divided to give A more profit, but enough to keep B satisfied. It should be divided to maximize the minimum.