Moral Philosophy Final Exam - Topic 7 - The Ethics of Billionaires

Economic Egalitarianism

Treating people equally along economic lines with distributions of wealth

Limitarianism

Form of equal opportunity egalitarianism that is the view there should be a strict limit on wealth

Surplus Money

Money that does not contribute to your wellbeing, over and above what you need to live a 10/10 life

Political Equality

Everyone has an equal say in the political process

Robeyn’s Democratic Argument for Limitarianism

We ought to prevent people from undermining political equality, billionaires have more political influence so we must cap wealth

Robeyn’s Argument from Urgent Unmet Needs for Limitarianism

By taking money from billionaires and buying things and giving them to the people that meet urgent unmet needs by redistributing the wealth. There is no good moral reason to not redistribute surplus money

Difference Principle

Do whatever it takes to raise the floor to the highest possible, maximize the minimum