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8. Presumptive Limitarianism: A Reply to Robert Huseby

  • Dick Timmer(author)
Chapter of: Having Too Much: Philosophical Essays on Limitarianism(pp. 203–218)
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Title8. Presumptive Limitarianism: A Reply to Robert Huseby
ContributorDick Timmer(author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0338.08
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0338/chapters/10.11647/obp.0338.08
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
CopyrightDick Timmer
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2023-07-06
Long abstract

In earlier work on limitarianism, I argued that setting an upper limit to the amount of wealth that people can permissibly have is justified when decision-makers are unaware of or disagree about the appropriate distributive criterion or if they are unaware of people’s relevant features (or both). Robert Huseby has raised several powerful objections to this presumptive argument for limitarianism. Some of these objections call for a revision of my defence of presumptive limitarianism while others call for clarification, both of which I aim to do in this chapter. I will argue that unless decision-makers have substantive reasons to suggest otherwise, they must act as if there is an upper limit to the amount of wealth that people can permissibly have.

Page rangepp. 203–218
Print length16 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Locations
Landing PageFull text URLPlatform
PDFhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0338/chapters/10.11647/obp.0338.08Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0338.08.pdfFull text URLPublisher Website
HTMLhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0338/chapters/10.11647/obp.0338.08Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0338/ch8.xhtmlFull text URLPublisher Website
Contributors

Dick Timmer

(author)
Assistant Professor at TU Dortmund University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0337-3369

Dick Timmer is an Assistant Professor at TU Dortmund University. He works in political philosophy and ethics, with a particular focus on distributive justice. His work has been published in journals such as Journal of Applied Philosophy, Economics and Philosophy, Journal of Political Philosophy, Philosophy Compass, and Utilitas.

References
  1. Flanigan, Jessica & Christopher Freiman. 2022. Wealth Without Limits: In Defense of Billionaires. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 25(5), 755–775. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-022-10327-3
  2. Hickey, Colin. 2023. Sufficiency, Limits, and Multi-Threshold Views. In: Ingrid Robeyns (Ed.). Having Too Much: Philosophical Essays on Limitarianism. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, pp. 219–246.
  3. Huseby, Robert. 2022. The Limits of Limitarianism. Journal of Political Philosophy, 30(2), 230–248. https://doi.org//10.1111/jopp.12274
  4. Räikkä, Juha. 2019. On the Presumption of Equality. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 22(7), 809–822. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2018.1438335
  5. Robeyns, Ingrid. 2017. Having Too Much. In: Jack Knight and Melissa Schwartzberg (Eds). NOMOS LVI: Wealth. Yearbook of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. New York: New York University Press, pp. 1–44.
  6. Robeyns, Ingrid. 2022. Why Limitarianism? Journal of Political Philosophy, 30(2), 249–270. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopp.12275
  7. Sunstein, Cass R. 1995. Incompletely Theorized Agreements. Harvard Law Review, 108(7), 1733–1772. https://doi.org/10.2307/1341816
  8. Timmer, Dick. 2021a. Limitarianism: Pattern, Principle, or Presumption? Journal of Applied Philosophy, 38(5), 760–773. https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12502
  9. Timmer, Dick. 2021b. Thresholds and Limits in Theories of Distributive Justice. Utrecht: Utrecht University. https://doi.org/10.33540/570
  10. Valentini, Laura. 2012. Ideal vs. non-ideal theory: a conceptual map. Philosophy Compass, 7(9), 654–664. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2012.00500.x

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