EQUALITY

The idea that persons are equals is at the foundation of modern political thought and practice. Much of the impetus behind the abolition of slavery and colonialism, the rejection of the practice of the master race, of sexism, and of racism, as well as ethnic or national chauvinism, is grounded in the thought that all persons are equal. The fundamental ideas underpinning democracy and the practices of liberal rights, as well as the contemporary practice of international human rights, are explicitly based on the idea of the equality of persons. A dominant idea in contemporary moral and political philosophy is that all persons should be treated as equals.