Rights and Duties in an Egalitarian Society

The first part of this traditional socialist ideal expresses an ethic of social duty that is strikingly absent most contemporary liberal political theory. The phrase from each according to his suggests that individuals have a moral obligation to use their talents and abilities to contribute to well being of society.' Is this kind of duty compatible with liberal principles? Most contemporary liberal political theories focus on not duties. It is not astonishing that libertarian theorists such as Robert Nozick provide little scope for obligations to society.2 But lack of attention to social duty is somewhat surprising in theorists who propose more egalitarian principles of distribution. For example, John Rawls says that he is concerned with identifying principles that assign rights and duties in basic institutions of society and that define the appropriate distribution of benefits and burdens of social co-operation.3 But he says relatively little about duties and even less about distribution of burdens (as opposed to benefits) of social cooperation. The difference principle seems only to affect kinds of that will be permitted, not kinds of duties that citizens