We are all equal, sort of. We are not equal in terms of our physical or mental capacities. Morally speaking, we are not all equally good. Evidently, if we are equal, it is not by virtue of our actual characteristics but despite them.

In fact, what we mean by equality is best seen as political rather than metaphysical (or even moral) in nature. We do not expect people to be the same, but we see differences as having no bearing on how people ought to be treated as citizens. Or differences, when they do matter, will not matter in the sense of being a basis for hierarchical class structure. People once saw society as consisting of separate classes – commoners and people of noble birth – but that belief belongs to another age. As a society, we made moral progress. Such progress consists in part of progress toward political and cultural equality.