Égalitarisme et responsabilité. Une investigation expérimentale

Welfarist approach is generally the preferred response to the problem of social justice. However the idea of individual responsability cannot be introduced in this framework. In contrast, for post-welfarist approach (initiated by John Rawls) this idea play a leadind role. In particular, the principle of « equality of opportunities » (Arneson, Sen, Cohen, Roemer) is directly based on this value. The purpose of the paper is to propose an empirical test of this principle of justice with help of experimental data. The study provides some temporary results when the criterion is applied for distribution of dental care. Yet, in the same time, the paper is a pionnering work on methodological aspect in social ethics, in line with original works by Yaari and Bar-Hillel, Schokkaert and Overleaf, Frohlich and Oppenheimer.