Each outcome is another opportunity: Problems with the Moment of Equal Opportunity Clare Chambers University of Cambridge, UK abstract This article introduces the concept of a Moment of Equal Opportunity (MEO): a point in an individual’s life at which equal opportunity must be applied and after which it need not. The concept of equal opportunity takes many forms, and not all employ an MEO. However, the more egalitarian a theory of equal opportunity is, the more likely it is to use an MEO. The article discusses various theories of equal opportunity and argues that those that employ an MEO are problematic. Unjust inequalities, those that motivate the use of equal opportunity, occur throughout people’s lives and thus go unrectified after an MEO. However, it is not possible to abandon the MEO approach and apply more egalitarian versions of equal opportunity throughout a person’s life, since doing so entails problems of epistemology, efficiency, incentives, and counter-intuitive results. The article thus argues that liberal egalitarian theories of equality of opportunity are inconsistent if they support an MEO and unrealizable if they do not. keywords liberal egalitarianism, meritocracy, careers open to talents, choice, children, Rawls, education, employment, justice The Villa Serbelloni proved to be a noble and luxurious house built on the sheltered slope of a promontory that divided two lakes, Como and Lecco, with magnificent views to east, south and west from its balconies and extensive gardens. [Professor] Morris [Zapp] was shown into a well-appointed suite on the second floor, and stepped out on to his balcony to inhale the air, scented with the perfume of various spring blossoms, and to enjoy the prospect. Down on the terrace, the other resident scholars were gathering for the pre-lunch aperitif – he had glimpsed the table laid for politics, philosophy & economics article DOI: 10.1177/1470594X09343066 Clare Chambers is a University Lecturer in Philosophy and a Fellow of Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK [email: cec66@cam.ac.uk; website: www.clarechambers.com] 374 © SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC 1470-594X 200911 8(4) 374–400