Research Workshop: "What Should Limitarians Believe?"
Dick Timmer (University of Utrecht)
Friday November 20, 2020, 12:10 - 2:00 pm via Zoom.
Abstract: Limitarianism is the view in distributive justice that someone has too much wealth if they exceed a specific wealth threshold. On the orthodox interpretation of limitarianism, proposed by Ingrid Robeyns, people have too much if they have more than is necessary to live a fully flourishing life. I raise two challenges for orthodox limitarianism. The metric challenge holds that it unnecessarily relies on a conception of flourishing. The priority challenge holds that it cannot adequately balance the different moral concerns entailed in the view. Those challenges motivate the shift towards revised limitarianism. On the revised limitarian view that I will defend, someone has too much wealth if they exceed a threshold above which additional wealth is incompatible with certain normative concerns (e.g. political equality or meeting urgent needs). Revised limitarianism is better equipped to deal with the challenges and fits more naturally within the broader aims of the limitarian project.
Research Interests:
- Political Philosophy
- Ethics
- Economics