In the theory of justice, the conception of the desert isn’t commonly accepted as the concept of punishment. The conception of desert implies the reward for the virtuous actions, and there are some particular judgments exist which help to determine the reasonableness of rewards. The dependence of rewards on the variety of external and conditional factors makes the public and scholars question the idea of the desert and its use for justice. Nevertheless, Miller calls into question the apprehension of the desert as “merely a conventional idea” (1999, p.135).
Usually, the reward appears in the wake of a particular performance by an agent that can be a person or a group of people. Through the process of judgement of the agent’s responsibility for the action, the circumstances and the agent’s initial intentions are analysed. The analysed action must have value in society.
Since people can have different motivations for their performances, it is essential to make sure that the best person is the one who is rewarded. Thus the assessment of the agent’s quality is important for judgement. Judgment should not depend just on the situational criteria or predictions and prejudices. According to Miller, the qualitative assessment is crucial, and thereby the person who deserves reward is the person who “will subsequently perform at the highest level” (1999, p. 137).
Though desert implies the existence of institutions that fulfil the judgement, Miller claims that desert is “predominantly a pre-institutional notion” (1999, p. 142). Nowadays, many social institutions’ reward systems function in obedience to external factors and preconceptions. This approach often creates inequality, and its fairness is doubted. To provide the efficiency of the desert, the institutional standards need to be conformed to the idea of the superior performance that deserves a reward.
Though nowadays, many writers and scholars do not support the significance of the desert for the conception of justice, David Miller successfully depicts its importance. The implementation of the desert judgment principals based on the responsibility, intentions and the quality of performance will help to improve the institutional policies and in some measure resolve the issue of social inequality.
Reference List
Miller, D 1999, Principles of Social Justice, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.