Mere existence entitles every being to equal community standing

Evidence

In this sense, strong democracy begins from an understanding of and commitment to what cultural theorist Raymond Williams (1983) has called “equality of being.” This is the idea that one person’s presence and contributions in a community are as worthy and vital as any other’s (Robbins, 2005, p. 10). While Barber does not use this particular concept, his ideas about democracy assume an important level of inclusion that assumes that all human members of the community are valued and thus ought to participate in decision making, and that differences among those participants is a given. That is, we are not all “equal” in the sense of being “the same”; we all come with different talents, abilities, skills, desires, histories and so on, but these are “healthy” ways of admitting inequality and do not entitle some to exclude or dominate others. … The fact that we are alive, that we exist as beings on this planet gives us integrity, purpose, and the right to be involved in and included as equal members of a community. Thus, strong democracy as a decision making process and a way of life begins from the assumption that no matter what one’s ability level, every person’s integrity, capacity, and aliveness— his or her being—is to be respected equally. This is a very non-hierarchized way of thinking about what it means to be human among other humans, a perspective that clearly values diversity. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 383

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Williams’s ‘equality of being’ as the non-hierarchized ground of inclusive democracy.
• XREF: Connects to ch5’s value-hierarchy logic of domination and ch1’s root-of-marginalization claims — non-hierarchized being directly reverses that logic. — connects to: Valuing one being over another invites discrimination against others — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 262; Earth Democracy rests on ten principles centered on intrinsic worth and local economies — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 393; Participation in shared vital force grounds equality and solidarity among all persons — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 329 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• True equality among people is impossible due to inescapable uniqueness #contradicts (0.88) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 187
• Participation in shared vital force grounds equality and solidarity among all persons #corroborates (0.85) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 329
• Abstract universalism fails because every human being is uniquely situated #contradicts (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 51
• Liberated individuals turn from equality toward distinguishing themselves from others #contradicts (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 535
• Real equality is experienced associationally and requires consciousness to be real #qualifies (0.78)
• Acceptance of groups is attainable even while acknowledging real differences #qualifies (0.72) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 900