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E-book Having Too Much : Philosophical Essays on Limitarianism

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Penilaian

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We are all familiar with the many reasons why we should fight poverty. Poor people do not have enough money to meet their basic needs, are excluded from society, are often not given proper respect, or can become easy prey at the hands of others who want to dominate them. In the domains of both material and immaterial goods, there is a widespread understanding about what it means when someone is deprived, that is, when they do not have enough important goods such as income, wealth, power, authority, water, food, housing, or energy. Virtually everyone, regardless of their political persuasion, agrees that every person should have access to enough of what matters. If the claim is made that we should, if possible, avoid poverty, it is often made as a moral claim which suggests that poverty is bad or wrong (some non-altruistic persons might only endorse it as an instrumental claim, for example because they only care about physical security and stability, and hope that eradicating poverty will avoid their being confronted with pitchforks). We could make it into a political claim by saying that our social institutions should be designed to avoid poverty to the extent that this is feasible (and some might add to the extent that avoiding poverty does not come at a greater loss of other values that matter). But can we also say that there are situations in which someone has too much? And what reasons are there to worry about someone having too much? These are the questions that are central to the limitarian project. This is not merely a question that is relevant for political philosophers. In society at large, there are many instances when citizens or commentators argue that some people are taking, receiving, or acquiring too much. The fortunes of the richest billionaires have become so inconceivably large that journalists, activists, and artists are trying to come up with ways to visualize them so as to make them comprehensible. For example, the Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2022 estimates that the biggest fortune of an individual is $251 billion, that is $251,000,000,000—owned at some point during 2022 by Elon Musk. Just try to compare that with, for example, $40,000, which is the average wage of a production worker at Tesla (Musk’s largest company). But there is also moral and political outrage about the financial holdings of much less wealthy persons, such as those of CEOs in Europe who earn several million euros each year—including directors of banks that had to be saved in the financial crises of 2018—or of fossil fuel companies such as Shell that are criticized for slowing down the deep decarbonization so badly needed to keep the planet habitable for humans. Some multi-millionaires, however, have organized themselves, in groups such as the Patriotic Millionaires, and are engaging in political activism that aims to decrease economic inequalities by making the superrich pay more taxes.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

189 GRE h

Penerbit

London : Open Book Publishers., 2023

Deskripsi Fisik

416 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781800649682

Klasifikasi

189

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Medieval Western Philosophy

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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