当代政治哲学研究者德里克·帕菲特提出了分配正义的优先主义原则:在分配的问题上应该优先考虑社会中那些最穷困的人。帕菲特认为,相比于罗尔斯正义理论中所提出的平等原则,优先原则是更优的分配正义原则。因为,平等原则可能会遭遇“拉平反驳”和“分割的世界”这两个理论困境。帕菲特的优先原则与罗尔斯的平等原则之间的理论分歧是深刻而长远的,其根源在于罗尔斯的正义理论与功利主义之间的根本分歧。 Derek Parfitt, a contemporary political philosophical researcher, puts forward the principle of priorityism in distributive justice: the poorest people in society should be prioritized on the issue of distribution. Parfit argues that the principle of priority is a better principle of distributive justice than the principle of equality put forward in Rawls’s theory of justice. Because the principle of equality may encounter two theoretical dilemmas such as “leveling off” and “dividing the world.” The theoretical disagreements between Parfit’s principle of priority and Rawls’s principle of equality are profound and long-term, rooted in the fundamental disagreement between Rawls’s theory of justice and utilitarianism.