Sufficientarianism
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Recent papers in Sufficientarianism
Resumen: En este artículo haré una revisión de las distintas teorías de la justicia intergeneracional. Para este fin, analizaré en virtud de qué principios surgen las obligaciones entre generaciones para las distintas teorías. Además de... more
Taking equality seriously means that we ought to consider the ways in which persons are not only unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged from the start – e.g., through genetic inheritance, wealth, or a parent’s educational background – but... more
In her groundbreaking paper “Having too much” Ingrid Robeyns introduces “limitarianism”, arguing that it is morally impermissible to have more resources than needed for a maximally flourishing life. Since, limitarianism is gaining... more
Abstract: in this paper I argue that upper-limit sufficientarianism suffers from a major problem stemming from its distinctive indifference to supra-threshold distributions. I argue that supra-threshold distributions must either be... more
In Equality or Priority? Derek Parfit draws an important distinction between two categories of distributive principle which tend to favor less advantaged individuals when their interests conflict with those of more advantaged... more
The paper is an examination of major arguments against equality. It considers the sufficientarian objection and inhumanness objections as well as new objections of economic shortcomings and objections for contingency which challenges luck... more
The article argues that persons should be conceived as self-owners and entitled to acquire private property within justifiable property conventions because they should be able to live as project pursuers. This is the ‘project pursuit... more
A just social arrangement must guarantee a right to health care for all. This right should be understood as a positive right to basic human functional capabilities. The present article aims to delineate the right to health care as part of... more
Sufficientarian libertarianism is a theory of justice that combines libertarianism's focus on property rights and non-interference with sufficientarianism's concern for the poor and needy. Persons are conceived as having stringent rights... more
Sufficientarianism claims that there is a threshold at which an individual has enough. It is good and socially desirable to live up to this line, but once it is reached moral claims for redistribution cede to exist or become significantly... more
En “Equality or Priority?” Derek Parfit elabora una importante distinción entre dos tipos de principios distributivos que favorecen a los menos aventajados cuando sus intereses entran en conflicto con los intereses de los más aventajados.... more
Human beings seek to transcend limits. This is part of our potential greatness, since it is how we can realize what is best in our humanity. However, the limit-transcending feature of human life is also part of our potential downfall, as... more
Despite the prominence of thresholds and limits in theories of distributive justice, there is no general account of their role within such theories. This has allowed an ongoing lack of clarity and misunderstanding around threshold views... more
This article argues that, under likely empirical conditions, sufficientarianism leads not to an easily achievable duty to maintain a social minimum but to the onerous duty of maintaining a social maximum at the sufficiency.
The notion of sufficiency has recently seen some momentum in separate discourses in distributive justice (‘sufficientarianism’) and environmental discourse (‘eco-sufficiency’). The examination of their relationship is due, as their scope... more
This paper compares three accounts of distributive justice in health and, more specifically, healthcare. I discuss two accounts—Norman Daniels' fair equality of opportunity for health and Shlomi Segall's luck-prioritarian equity in... more
For people starting from a presumption in favor of equality, the very idea of a sufficiency threshold where the demands of justice would stop because everyone has enough is puzzling. However, Liam Shields, offers an account of sufficiency... more
Sufficientarianism is a theory of distributive justice. Rather than being concerned with inequalities as such or with making the situation of the least well off as good as possible, sufficientarian justice aims at making sure that each of... more
A libertarian theory of justice holds that persons are self-owners and have the Hohfeldian moral power to justly acquire property rights in initially unowned external resources. Different variants of libertarianism can be distinguished... more
Many important criticisms to the possibility of global justice are advanced following one or another operationalization of the Rawlsian concept of a basic structure. The purpose of this paper is twofold: i) to show that the existence of a... more
In his article, “Equality as a Moral Ideal”, Harry Frankfurt argues against economic egalitarianism and presents what he calls the “doctrine of sufficiency.” According to the doctrine of sufficiency, what is morally important is not... more
Resumen: El presente trabajo explora la posibilidad de obtener y defender una concepción particular de los derechos sociales a partir de la teoría del título válido de Robert Nozick. Se sostendrá que dicha teoría ofrece varios caminos... more
In this chapter, the implications of intergenerational sufficientarianism for health-related issues are discussed. First, the chapter presents intergenerational sufficientarianism and specifies three of its key features: moderate... more
This paper shows that versions of prioritarianism that at least partially focus on well-being levels at certain times come in conflict with conventional views of prudential value and prudential rationality. So-called timeslice... more
Liam Shields’ sufficientarian commitments mean that he should subscribe to a child-centred account of the right to parent. This point most likely generalises: sufficientarians who acknowledge children’s full moral status must embrace a... more
Classic sufficientarians like Harry Frankfurt dismiss inequalities ‘as such’ as morally insignificant. I ask whether the plausibility and practical import of this claim is in any way undercut by evidence of the durable effects of high... more
The indifference objection is one of the most powerful objections to sufficientarianism. Critics argue that sufficientarianism is objectionably indifferent to the distribution of benefits and burdens. This article focuses on the criticism... more
The precautionary principle aims to influence decision‐making in contexts where some activity poses uncertain but potentially grave threats. This perfectly describes the controversy surrounding germline gene editing. This article... more
This primer serves to provide background on sufficientarianism. It presents an overview of distinctions between sufficiency and other distributive views (section 1), six significant aspects of a sufficiency theory (section 2), and a... more
Critics of luck egalitarianism have claimed that, far from providing a justification for the public insurance functions of a welfare state as its proponents claim, the view objectionably abandons those who are deemed responsible for their... more
Sufficientarianism is the view that it makes a moral difference whether a person has enough or not. The thought is that those who do not have enough of some important goods have an especially strong claim to extra benefits and having... more
Principles of sufficiency are widely discussed in debates about distributive ethics. However, critics have argued that sufficiency principles are vulnerable to important objections. This article seeks to clarify the main claims of... more
In this article, I propose a novel characterization of sufficientarianism. I argue that sufficientarianism combines three claims: a priority claim that we have non-instrumental reasons to prioritize benefits in certain ranges over... more
Prioritarianism is nowadays understood as the doctrine in distributive justice, which advocates the maximization of weighted utility. This article argues that this narrow reading does not correspond to Parfit's original introduction of... more
The standard version of sufficientarianism maintains that providing people with enough, or as close to enough as is possible, is lexically prior to other distributive goals. This article argues that this is excessive - more than... more
This essay articulates a kind of conservatism that it argues is the most fundamental and important kind of conservatism, viz. existential conservatism, which involves an affirmative and appreciative stance towards the given world. While... more
La présente contribution vise à offrir au lecteur une présentation de la doctrine suffisantiste de la justice, de ses justifications générales et spécifiques et de son articulation possible avec d’autres théories de la justice. Elle... more
Despite the prominence of thresholds in theories of distributive justice, there is no general account of what sort of role is played by the idea of a threshold within such theories. This has allowed an ongoing lack of clarity and... more