David Schmidtz's Elements of Justice

David Schmidtz argues that justice as desert respects human agency by crediting effort and achievement, thereby motivating productive behavior and helping people—including the least advantaged—flourish.

David Schmidtz presents reciprocity as the joyful, context-sensitive practice of appropriately returning or paying forward genuine favors, thereby sustaining cooperation and common humanity without creating perpetual social debt.

David Schmidtz argues that justice requires equal moral and political treatment—not equal shares—because property rights, investment, production, and first possession foster freedom, cooperation, and prosperity.