Skip to main content
Login
  1. Home
  2. Having Too Much
  3. 7. Why Limitarianism?
Open Book Publishers

7. Why Limitarianism?

  • Ingrid Robeyns(author)
Chapter of: Having Too Much: Philosophical Essays on Limitarianism(pp. 175–202)
  • Export Metadata
  • Metadata
  • Locations
  • Contributors
  • References

Export Metadata

Metadata
Title7. Why Limitarianism?
ContributorIngrid Robeyns(author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0338.07
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0338/chapters/10.11647/obp.0338.07
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
CopyrightIngrid Robeyns
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2023-07-06
Long abstract

This chapter responds to Robert Huseby’s critique that instrumental limitarianism is not genuinely limitarian. I first introduce the distinction between problem-driven versus theory-driven philosophy, which is relevant for assessing my earlier work on limitarianism. I then provide a restatement and refinement of limitarianism based on recent developments in the literature. I then argue that limitarianism is distinct from egalitarianism, as well as from sufficientarianism. Limitarianism fits well as one part of a pluralist account of distributive justice. I conclude by arguing that limitarianism could play a distinct role both within political philosophy, as well as within society.

Page rangepp. 175–202
Print length28 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Locations
Landing PageFull text URLPlatform
PDFhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0338/chapters/10.11647/obp.0338.07Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0338.07.pdfFull text URLPublisher Website
HTMLhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0338/chapters/10.11647/obp.0338.07Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0338/ch7.xhtmlFull text URLPublisher Website
Contributors

Ingrid Robeyns

(author)
Chair in Ethics of Institutions at Utrecht University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2893-1814

Ingrid Robeyns holds the chair in Ethics of Institutions at Utrecht University. She received her PhD dissertation from Cambridge University in 2003 and has since been publishing widely on questions of distributive justice, inequalities, applied ethics, and methodological considerations. She served as the first Director of the Dutch Research School of Philosophy, as the former director of Utrecht University’s Ethics Institute, and as the eighth president of the Human Development and Capability Association. She has co-edited two edited volumes and three special journal issues, and has previously published the book Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice (2017, https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0130) with Open Book Publishers. She currently has a contract with Allen Lane (UK) and Astra House (USA) for a trade book on limitarianism (with translation rights sold to seven other publishers), which is scheduled to appear in the winter of 2023–2024.

References
  1. Facundo, Alvaredo, Atkinson, Anthony B., Piketty, Thomas & Saez, Emmanuel. 2013. The top 1 percent in international and historical perspective. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27, 3−20. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.27.3.3
  2. Atkinson, Anthony B. & Piketty, Thomas. 2007. Top Incomes over the 20th Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  3. Axelsen, David & Nielsen, Lasse. 2021. Why we should worry about extreme wealth. MS: University of Essex.
  4. Brouwer, Huub & van der Deijl, Willem. 2021. More onerous work deserves higher pay. In Anders Örtenblad (Ed.), Debating Equal Pay for All (pp. 55−98). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
  5. Casal, Paula. 2007. Why sufficiency is not enough. Ethics, 117, 296−336. https://doi.org/10.1086/510692
  6. Goodin, Robert E. 1982. Political Theory and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  7. Gosseries, Axel. 2011. Sufficientarianism. In E. Craig (Ed.) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/sufficientarianism/v-1>. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780415249126-S112-1
  8. Green, Fergus & Brandstedt, Eric. 2021. Engaged climate ethics. Journal of Political Philosophy, 29, 539−563. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopp.12237
  9. Harel Ben Shahar, Tammy. 2019. Limitarianism and relative thresholds. SSRN Working paper http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3404687.
  10. Herlitz, Anders. 2019. The indispensability of sufficientarianism. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 22, 929−942. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2018.1479817
  11. Hickey, Colin, Meijers, Tim, Robeyns, Ingrid, & Timmer, Dick. 2021. The agents of justice. Philosophy Compass, 16, e12770. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12770
  12. Huseby, Robert. 2019. Sufficientarianism. In William R. Thompson (Ed.). Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1382.
  13. Huseby, Robert. 2020. Sufficientarianism and the threshold question. Journal of Ethics, 24, 207−223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10892-020-09321-7.
  14. Huseby, Robert. 2022. The limits of limitarianism. Journal of Political Philosophy, 3, 230–248. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopp.12274.
  15. Miller, David. 2001. Distributing responsibilities. Journal of Political Philosophy, 9, 453−471. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9760.00136
  16. Mulligan, Thomas. 2021. Equal pay for all: an idea whose time has not, and will not, come. in Anders Örtenblad (Ed.), Debating Equal Pay for All (pp. 21−35). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
  17. Neuhäuser, Christian. 2018. Reichtum als Moralisches Problem. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
  18. O’Neill, Onora. 2001. Agents of justice. Metaphilosophy, 32, 180−195. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9973.00181
  19. Piketty, Thomas. 2014. Capital in the 21st Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  20. Rawls, John. 1999. A Theory of Justice, rev. edn. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  21. Robeyns, Ingrid. 2012. Are transcendental theories of justice redundant? Journal of Economic Methodology, 19, 159−163.
  22. Robeyns, Ingrid. 2017. Having too much. In Jack Knight & Melissa Schwartzberg (Eds.), Wealth - Yearbook of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy (pp. 1–44). New York: New York University Press.
  23. Robeyns, Ingrid, Buskens,Vincent, van de Rijt, Arnout, Vergeldt, Nina & van der Lippe, Tanja. 2021. How rich is too rich? Measuring the riches line. Social Indicators Research, 154, 115−143.
  24. Rothstein, Bo. 1998. Just Institutions Matter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  25. Sen, Amartya. 2006. What do we want from a theory of justice? Journal of Philosophy, 103, 215−238.
  26. Sen, Amartya. 2009. The Idea of Justice. London: Allen Lane.
  27. Shields, Liam. 2012. The prospects for sufficientarianism. Utilitas, 24, 101−117. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0953820811000392
  28. Shields, Liam. 2020. Sufficientarianism. Philosophy Compass, 15, e12704. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12704
  29. Sunstein, Cass R. 1998. Practice reason and incompletely theorized agreements. Current Legal Problems, 55, 267−298. https://doi.org/10.1093/clp/51.1.267
  30. Timmer, Dick. 2019. Defending the democratic argument for limitarianism. Philosophy, 47, 1331−1339. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-018-0030-6
  31. Timmer, Dick. 2021a. Thresholds in distributive justice. Utilitas, 33, 422−441. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0953820821000194
  32. Timmer, Dick. 2021b. Limitarianism: pattern, principle, or presumption? Journal of Applied Philosophy, 38, 760–773. https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12502
  33. Timmer, Dick. 2021c. Thresholds and Limits in Theories of Distributive Justice. PhD dissertation, Utrecht University.
  34. Valentini, Laura. 2012. Ideal vs. non-ideal theory: a conceptual map. Philosophy Compass, 7, 654−664. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2012.00500.x
  35. Volacu, Alexandru & Dumitru, Adelin Costin. 2018. Assessing non-intrinsic limitarianism. Philosophia, 47, 249−264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-018-9966-9
  36. Wolff, Jonathan. 1998. Fairness, respect, and the egalitarian ethos. Philosophy and Public Affairs 27, 97−122. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1088-4963.1998.tb00063.x
  37. Wolff, Jonathan. 2015. Political philosophy and the real world of the welfare state. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 32, 360−372. https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12125
  38. Wolff, Jonathan. 2018. Methods in philosophy and public policy: applied philosophy versus engaged philosophy. In Annabel Lever & Andrei Poama (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy (pp. 13−24). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315461731-2
  39. Zwarthoed, Danielle. 2019. Autonomy-based reasons for limitarianism. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 21, 1181−1204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-018-9958-7

Export Metadata

UK registered social enterprise and Community Interest Company (CIC).

Company registration 14549556

Metadata

  • By book
  • By publisher
  • GraphQL API
  • Export API

Resources

  • Downloads
  • Videos
  • Merch
  • Presentations
  • Service status

Contact

  • Email
  • Bluesky
  • Mastodon
  • Github

Copyright © 2026 Thoth Open Metadata. Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.