Some philosophies, such as Egalitarianism, highly value equality and fairness. My question is, why? What is so great about equality and fairness?
For example, the Soviet Union was much more equal than it was under the Czars (not perfectly equal, but more equal). The upper class was very small, and there the lower and middle classes where less split. And it was terrible!
Imagine that we have two scenarios. In the first, two people each of have one unit of utility (we could give amount of food or free time or whatever as utility.) In the second, one person has two units, and the other one hundred. Although the first distribution is many orders of magnitude equaller, I would prefer to be the person with two units of utility in the second scenario then one in the first. Even if the second scenario arose in an unfair way, it would still be better.
For example, even though the 1% are much richer than me, I still have a better standard of living than Kings of the past. The 1% being rich doesn't really harm me, fair or not.
So why do we value equality and fairness so highly? What philosophical defense can be given for them?