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Property
fundamentally marks how we as individuals are related both to
other individuals and to society at large. In
its strongest form, property absolutely excludes others from
possessing, using, or in any way controlling what we own. However,
others have insisted that basic human necessity (e.g.
hunger) may overrule the power of individual property.
The
English philosopher John
Locke offered a theory of property against which
all others have since been measured. Locke said that personal
property is a natural right, given by God. One line of
his argument emphasizes the human need for self-preservation;
here property rights are seen as a necessary instrument for
peacefully distributing nature's bounty. Second (and more famously),
Locke defends the earliest formation of property in a series
of four steps: (1) every person owns his or her self and
capacity to work (i.e. his or her labor); (2) by mixing
what one owns (labor) with nature's common property,
we make other things our own; (3) the consent
of others is irrelevant to this process of securing property,
and (4) "as much and as good" of nature's bounty must be left
for others.
Locke
says that in later (modern) conditions of scarcity, money
allows property to be accumulated without spoilage-and therefore
without harm to others. Property owners have a right to bestow
or bequeath what they own. If all acquisitions and transfers
of property have been just, then unequal accumulations
of wealth are not immoral.
David
Hume criticized Locke, insisting that property
is not a natural right but rather a social convention
that reflects self-interest and the desire to protect what we
own. Jeremy Dentham insisted that only government
(rather than society in general) can bestow property rights.
Property
ultimately involves personal control and security, as
often opposed to other individual interests and to the
overall interest or advantage of society. This tension
is seen in issues like slavery, abortion, euthanasia, organ
donation, government regulation, taxation, the power of eminent
domain, welfare, and a variety of coercive social programs.
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