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3. Whatever the differences of worth between normal human adults, it is impractical to try to take account of all of them either socially or politically.On how many different dimensions—of skill, intelligence, virtue, potentially potentiality for transcending habits, and so on—can people be compared? And who is competent to judge the relative importance of these different dimensions or the status of different ever-changing individuals with respect to any of them? Certainly, parentage is not a reliable guide to individual gifts and merits, and intelligence tests are notoriously often misleading.

Even if such considerations fail to establish absolute equality, the they surely suffice to exclude the chief forms of inegalitarianism practive hitherto, such as racism, the subjection of women, the denial of opportunity to children of the poor, and so on. But can we say anything more?

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