PRESENTATION

This concluding chapter begins with a recapitulation of the general method, line of argument, and result. It then proposes practical strategies for introducing the obtained structure of distribution in actual distributive policies by more or less progressive transformations of present-day fiscal tools, possibly with unanimous, consensual approval at each step. The chapter then takes a look at the field of social improvement beyond macrojustice, in a chain of influences where one improvement paves the way for the next. Distributive justice is favourable to freely peaceful social relations and then to positive, other-regarding ones: the appropriate liberty and equality favour fraternity – which is hampered by the use of force and by envy, resentment, and sentiments that others benefit from what should be one's own. Sentiments favourable to other persons constitute a lowering of the importance of the ego, which can favour this lowering in the personal field, thus reducing acquisitiveness, greed, and unwarranted attachments and desires. This, by the way, will in turn reduce the effects and importance of imperfections in distributive justice. This may also free attention and energy for knowledge and appreciation of the cultural heritage of civilizations, and, possibly, for contributing to it. But these will be other stories.

Section 2 recapitulates the essential of the central derivation of macrojustice in society. Section 3 shows how the result can be implemented by progressive transformations of the present fiscal policies.