I go over the 3 foundations of property rights. This is an essential watch to understand why a philosophical discourse on property rights is an important precursor to understanding how people can ethically work toward peace and prosperity.
Most people adopt the social norms they grew up with but never actually examine the reasons behind those norms. One of those norms that are commonly accepted but not actually understood and consistently applied are property rights.
Property rights are a necessary foundation for a free and peaceful society. It is important to remember the philosophy behind property rights so that you can realize when they are not being respected.
Now let us explore the basics of property rights philosophy from a Voluntaryist perspective to help you grow on your philosophical journey.
#1 Scarcity
Scarcity describes physical limitations as relates to people’s use of land and resources.
For example, if I wish to eat a particular apple, no one else can also eat that same apple without depriving me of the apple. My eating the apple naturally excludes others from it as the apple is broken down and changed into a different state upon eating it.
Likewise, land is unique and scarce. Two people cannot occupy the exact same spot on a beach to watch a beautiful sunset at the same time. A person standing in a specific scenic location naturally excludes others, as anyone trying to move into that same spot would physically force the person there out.
Because of physical scarcity, conflict can arise when two people wish to use the same resource at the same time.
To reduce conflict, Voluntaryists use a philosophical approach to analyze and create a methodology of assigning respect of ownership for various physical things.
This approach is guided by the goals of maximizing consent and minimizing the initiation of violence and starts with the concepts of self-ownership and the homesteading principle.
#2 Self-Ownership
Before getting into the concept of self-ownership, we need to define what property ownership is.
Property ownership is a bundle of concepts held in human psychology, including the ability to:
- Possess, which is physical control.
- Use, which is acting with the property to implement a function or not implement a function.
- Destroy, that is, to make unusable.
- Exclusion, meaning to keep others from the property.
- And disposition, the ability to sell, trade, gift, or abandon the property.
Property ownership is not self-executing. Individuals must adopt the psychology of property ownership norms for it to have a practical effect.
The good news is that property concepts are rather easy to understand and apply if one thinks about their own body and how they wish to be treated.
So, with this backdrop in mind, self-ownership is the idea that each human being owns their body and has the highest claim to it.
This ownership stems from brain impulses being placed on the body which act as a controlling agent.
While some may try to claim that the concept of “self” is outside the body or that the brain and the impulses are a part of “self,” making self-ownership a kind of tautology, these notions can be disabused if one looks at the nature of body part alienation.
If one accepts self-ownership stemming from brain activity, then it can be understood by observation that people tend to both involuntarily and voluntarily act in defense of themselves. Their white blood cells fight off infecting bodies and people use their hands, arms, legs, and feet to repel objects, creatures, or persons they do not wish to touch their body.
This observation of the natural, consistent application of self-ownership continues with accuracy to alienation of parts, whereby people can give up control of body parts by cutting off brain impulse activity.
This takes place frequently with donation of blood and organs when people extract the tissue away from brain impulses and give it to another.
Under this reasoning, the body cannot be given in whole until death, making the concept of slavery (that is, total living human ownership) a logical impossibility. As long as the brain is exerting impulses, a claim of ownership is being made on the body.
Trying to alienate the body in whole while living would be as much of a farce as trying to sell a car but refusing to get out of the driver’s seat. By not getting out, one is not truly giving up property rights and, thus, the alienation has not taken place.
With this foundation, it is easy to see how self-ownership can be readily understood by most people.
#3 The Homesteading Principle
Property norms for land are necessary as life itself demands it.
Human beings take up space in time and require the conversion of natural resources for the body to survive. Thus, every human being must, at a bare minimum, both occupy some spot of land to the exclusion of others, and capture and convert physical resources to continue the process of replenishing cells and staying alive.
The key to consistent property ownership is making claims specific and clear to the notice of others.
Traditionally, this kind of property development came in the form of homesteading: clearing land from the state of nature and developing structures on top of it to exclude other humans and put them on notice as to the land’s use.
To avoid generalized claims like governments make, claims to land should be specific and well-defined with some sort of visible fencing, and cleared for building structures.
Leaving land in the state of nature is antithetical to strong property norms as it makes it so that people could claim wide areas of land without ever having to perform any work to capture and control it.
By strictly adhering to a homesteading norm based on setting off land with physical markers and clearing it for construction, concerns about centralization of control and ambiguity of ownership can be largely avoided due to the development required.
Ownership of spaces should not be extended above or below land without physical construction to avoid generalized claims and to help make clear who owns what area by notice of development.
Abandonment of land-based property should be made clear by removing barriers and posting notice of intent to abandon to avoid confusion.
The premise for who has the highest claim to land is based on the concept of first appropriation. First appropriation means the first person to appropriate the land and develop it has the highest claim until it is disposed of through sale, gifting, or abandonment.
The use of “first appropriation” is distinguishable from the Lockean labor theory of property rights in that the right to property is not based on applying some ambiguous amount of labor. Rather, it is based on acquisition through physical development and capture to the noticeable exclusion of others.
In managing property rights conflicts, Voluntaryists look at the hierarchy of first appropriation and balance this against the right of the individual to their own body.
Those who violate the physical properties of others outside the body may be physically removed from the property.
Self-defense may also be used to protect one’s body and property, but only to the extent it is appropriately tailored to the threat of harm.
In doing this, Voluntaryists attempt to avoid escalations of violence and reduce conflicts through robust respect of both the body and tangible property of others.
By helping to educate others on these norms, and consistently applying them yourself, you can help build a future for lasting peace and prosperity.
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
Philosophy is my core. Reason is my foundation. Phở is my sustenance.
~Connect with me :{D
🍜 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/dapholosopher
🍜 Twitter - https://twitter.com/DaPholosopher
🍜 Steemit - https://steemit.com/@thepholosopher
🍜 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/thepholosopher
🍜 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/pholosopherofficial/
🍜 Minds - https://www.minds.com/thepholosopher
~Help me afford more Phở (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
🍜 Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/thepholosopher
🍜 SubscribeStar - https://www.subscribestar.com/the-pholosopher
🍜 BitBacker - https://bitbacker.io/user/thepholosopher/
🍜 Crypto - https://thepholosopher.com/support/
🍜 Liberty Tees - https://www.libertariancountry.com/?rfsn=639897.fb3ec
🍜 More Liberty Tees - https://www.rageon.com/a/users/voluntaryist
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
love your videos!
Thank you so much! ^^
Congratulations! Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on rank 1 of all contributions awarded today. You can find the TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.
I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least 5 SBD worth and should receive 152 votes. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true.
I am
TrufflePig, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, you can find an explanation here!Have a nice day and sincerely yours,
TrufflePigThank you! ^^ Merry Christmas!
You're totally on point.
You know, it's tough being a millennial with even a modest amount of property because so few people of our generation seem to have fully grasped the fundamentals of what it means to own your shit (materially, spiritually and philosophically).
Yes. It is especially hard when many millennials don't even know what true ownership feels like thanks to so much debt and a poor economy.