Again, my point exactly (except "equality" as a moral value--or "law"--is a belief, not an idea). The material conditions that give rise to the ethic of mutual respect in real justice almost rise to a 'proof' of equality, but ultimately make equality/inequality, whether an idea, a belief, a principle, or a law, etc., irrelevant.

In real justice the obligation to respect one another's capacity to choose comes merely from the material fact that we are fellow human beings, not that we are 'equal'. That is a fine distinction, but it makes all the difference in the viability of mutual respect as the ethic of justice. Asserting any claim of inherent superiority/inferiority becomes untenable because it is introducing an immaterial irrelevancy into the issue as though it had a material significance.