Difference between revisions of "What Is Property?"
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
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Posesssion is considered in the legal community to be only one of [[#What_are_the_component_rights_of_property.3F|a bundle of many rights that comprise property]]. You need more than just possession to have property. | Posesssion is considered in the legal community to be only one of [[#What_are_the_component_rights_of_property.3F|a bundle of many rights that comprise property]]. You need more than just possession to have property. | ||
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| + | There are "natural" rules to possession as well. Here is an incomplete list: | ||
| + | # You can acquire possession by taking something from somebody or if it is uncontested. | ||
| + | # You keep what you possess if you can defend it. | ||
| + | # Stronger parties get to take your possession and make it their own. | ||
| + | # You can cede or abandon your possession. | ||
| + | These rules apply to pretty much all life forms which are in competition for resources. | ||
==Don't animals have property?== | ==Don't animals have property?== | ||
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==Even children understand that possession is property!== | ==Even children understand that possession is property!== | ||
Even children understand that the sun rises in the East and sets in the west. But they are wrong: the sun is not moving over the Earth; the Earth is rotating. A child saying "this is mine" may understand possession, but not the much more sophisticated ideas of property. The childhood adage "finders keepers" illustrates the understanding of possession and does not show understanding of property. | Even children understand that the sun rises in the East and sets in the west. But they are wrong: the sun is not moving over the Earth; the Earth is rotating. A child saying "this is mine" may understand possession, but not the much more sophisticated ideas of property. The childhood adage "finders keepers" illustrates the understanding of possession and does not show understanding of property. | ||
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| + | ==What about the [[State Of Nature]]?== | ||
| + | The State Of Nature is a philosophical fairy tale that ignores or predates modern anthropological science. Humans evolved in hunter-gatherer bands which had commonly-held (and defended) territories (a type of possession.) Property institutions did not evolve until the advent of chiefdoms, long after any putative State Of Nature. | ||
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| + | For more on this, see: {{Link| Why Do Philosophers Talk so Much and Read so Little About the Stone Age? False factual claims in appropriation-based property theory}}. | ||
==How is property created?== | ==How is property created?== | ||
