Introduction Scarcity, lack and limitation are usually regarded as synonyms referring to the fact that material and immaterial things in this world and human beings themselves are limited and finite. Our research shows that lack is: ▶ one of the metaphysical principles (or causes) of being together with form and matter (philosophy); ▶ a precondition of freedom and a sign of blessing (theology); ▶ an evil, natural or moral, caused by the imperfection of nature or human beings (philosophy, theology); ▶ poverty, a lack of material resources (anthropology); ▶ a state of unfulfillment of biological and social needs (psychology); ▶ a tension between natural needs and socially constructed wants (sociology); ▶ scarcity of resources (economics). Our research finds that lack is addressed in all of the said disciplines, albeit in different aspects and by different names. Philosophers and theologians penetrate its origins and recognize lack as an integral, ontological feature of being. It is customary to name it deficiency and privation. Yet, even in those prime disciplines lack is a fragmentary topic. Major findings of ancient and medieval thought remained underdeveloped and were not taken forward. The knowledge of lack as an ontological category remained relatively incoherent and was barely pursued in the social sciences. The fact that there is no common vocabulary and adjacent phenomena and their interactions are unexplored confirms that we embark on a subject barely known to science. Remarkably, this seems to be in line
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