Sufficiency Principle

Abstract

The sufficiency principle is a normative principle that offers guidance and assessment of the distribution of benefits and burdens in societies. The principle embodies the thought that it is important for people to have enough and that individual actions and public policies should respect the importance of securing enough of some things, such as healthcare, education, wealth, and happiness. Although the idea is a simply one, it raises significant and difficult philosophical questions, which have been debated for decades. For example, how much is enough? Enough of what? How should we prioritize those who do not have enough? And how should we regard those who have enough already? In this entry I outline those debates and explain how these questions have been answered by philosophers to shed light on the nature of sufficiency principles as well as their attractiveness and limits.