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“The Tenuous Foundations of the Sufficiency Proviso”

Abstract: Fabian Wendt proposes combining libertarian foundations with a proviso that requires a just system of private property to ensure that everyone has a sufficient amount of resources to pursue projects. He calls this proviso a sufficiency proviso. This proviso is said to have advantages over all rival provisos “because it better coheres with the most plausible rationale for endorsing a libertarian theory of justice in the first place” (Wendt 2018b, 169). Given these advantages, he expresses surprise that no other libertarians have defended a sufficiency proviso. I trace Wendt’s argument and identify several weaknesses in it. I argue that, at is stands, the argument for a sufficiency proviso fails.

Keywords: sufficiency proviso, consequentialism, justice, care, self-ownership

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Contributor: Lamont Rodgers

May 6, 2019, By Stephan Kinsella (Editor) Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 10 (2018)

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