Difference between revisions of "What Is Property?"
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
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==What about self-ownership?== | ==What about self-ownership?== | ||
| − | No human society has ever treated people as their own inviolate property. Even if self-ownership was only an aspirational goal, it could not be implemented for children or incompetents. Historically, ownership of other people (slavery, wives, children) has been the norm. Libertarians frequently base their philosophy on this imagined right. It is merely an unenforced claim. You might also be in possession of yourself, but there is a long history of others being in possession of people's bodies. | + | No human society has ever treated people as their own inviolate property. Even if self-ownership was only an aspirational goal, it could not be implemented for children or incompetents. Historically, ownership of other people (slavery, wives, children) has been the norm. Libertarians frequently base their philosophy on this imagined right. It is merely an unenforced claim. You might also be in possession of yourself, but there is a long history of others being in possession of people's bodies. Bodies are NEVER property (let alone absolute property) in any culture except in [[slavery]]. |
| − | If you have anything resembling ownership of your body, it is a result of rights created by government or other coercive social organizations. But they are never full liberal ownership because there are always important exceptions (resembling easements) having to do with the duties of citizenship and the facts of competency. | + | If you have anything resembling ownership of your body, it is a result of rights created by government or other coercive social organizations. But they are never full liberal ownership because there are always important exceptions (resembling easements) having to do with the duties of citizenship and the facts of competency. Persons have legal "body rights": they do not own their bodies, but do have limited property rights in them. Too many component rights are lacking to say that individuals own their bodies. |
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To read more, see: [[Self-Ownership]]. | To read more, see: [[Self-Ownership]]. | ||
