This article addresses the distinction between equality of opportunity and equality of result. Equality of opportunity requires that a person’s fortunes not be determined by accidents of birth or other factors over which he or she has no control，which also requires distribution of result. In addition，the meritocratic conception of equality of opportunity is a conception of equality only in a very specialized way. People have equal opportunities only in the sense that their chances for success are not dictated by identifiable others. The same kind of equality inheres in well-functioning democratic political arrangements that bring about equality of result by altering market outcomes. Arguments for equality of opportunity and equality of result rest on the same foundations，and the rhetoric that contrasts them is more misleading than valuable.