In the book “The idea of justice” by Amartya Sen, it tells the story of three children who dispute a flute. Anne claims the flute because she is the only one who knows how to play it. Bob claims the flute because he is so poor that he has no other toy. Carla claims the flute because he has worked diligently to make it. The interesting thing about the exercise is that if you don't know the arguments of the other children, you tend to favor the last of the allegations. This story aims to demonstrate the different positions that can be taken in the same problem.
The economic egalitarian would give the flute to Bob in order to reduce economic differences in the population. The utilitarian would hesitate to give the flute to Anne or Bob. The utilitarian would have to weigh between the pleasure Anne gets by playing the flute and the happiness of the poor child by obtaining a precious toy. The libertarian will not hesitate to give Carla the flute because no one should be deprived of the fruit of his work. Paradoxically, the idea of the right to the fruit of labor unites libertarians on the right and Marxists on the left.
