I tend to agree with Xannon, that ‘fairness’ is defined by society. So the question is if the societal moral norms still affect the three opponents. If Xannon decides “we are still members of society where equal shares for everyone are considered fair” he might side with Yancy, share the pie into 1⁄3′s and label Zaire to be a criminal. If he decides “we are out in the desert with no society around to push its moral values unto us” he might side with Zaire, divide the pie in 1⁄2′s and tell Yancy to shove his ideas of equality up his behind.
The whole Y’s “fair distribution is an even split, not a distribution arrived at by a ‘fair resolution procedure’ that everyone agrees on” argument seems to either say ‘fair’ == ‘equal division’ or bring in some sort of external source of morality “The Howly Blooble says we shall divide equally and so we shall.”
The Y’s intuitive grasp of fairness seems to be derived from ideas of modern western society, but even in our world there is, for example, a medical practise of triage where a doctor spends more time with patients who require more treatment. Nobody seems to call that unfair. As already have been mentioned the same situation would be different if X and Y had big dinners an hour ago and Z hasn’t eaten in two days. I suppose in that case Y would be arguing that it is fair to give the whole pie to Z.
I tend to agree with Xannon, that ‘fairness’ is defined by society. So the question is if the societal moral norms still affect the three opponents. If Xannon decides “we are still members of society where equal shares for everyone are considered fair” he might side with Yancy, share the pie into 1⁄3′s and label Zaire to be a criminal. If he decides “we are out in the desert with no society around to push its moral values unto us” he might side with Zaire, divide the pie in 1⁄2′s and tell Yancy to shove his ideas of equality up his behind.
The whole Y’s “fair distribution is an even split, not a distribution arrived at by a ‘fair resolution procedure’ that everyone agrees on” argument seems to either say ‘fair’ == ‘equal division’ or bring in some sort of external source of morality “The Howly Blooble says we shall divide equally and so we shall.”
The Y’s intuitive grasp of fairness seems to be derived from ideas of modern western society, but even in our world there is, for example, a medical practise of triage where a doctor spends more time with patients who require more treatment. Nobody seems to call that unfair. As already have been mentioned the same situation would be different if X and Y had big dinners an hour ago and Z hasn’t eaten in two days. I suppose in that case Y would be arguing that it is fair to give the whole pie to Z.