Sufficiency, Nature and the Future

Abstract

Sufficiency principles require that each person has enough.This article explores two such principles, located towards opposing ends of the political spectrum. Conservative Sufficiency affirms a permission to transform natural resources to benefit oneself or other people, provided that doing so is compatible with present and future people all having enough, but denies the relevance of additional distributive requirements, like Equality or Priority. By contrast, according to Conservationist Sufficiency, what everybody having enough undermines is not Equality and Priority, but our justification for further environmental damage, including damage harmful to future humans and nonhumans. Defendingthe Conservationist over the Conservative interpretation, this article explains its appeal not only for those who care about animals and the environment, but also for those who share other concerns present in the thought of J. S. Mill and John Rawls.