rhg2@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Rich Graham) (01/18/90)
In article <=1R5L=@rpi.edu> keith@pawl.rpi.edu (Keith D. Weiner) writes: >The correct approach to this question is: "Who created the property?" It is >THIS person who owns it. He (she) may then transfer ownership voluntarily >to someone else. But doesn't this concept hinge on the ownership of the materials used in making the property? All (physical) property can be traced back to natural resources which were created by nobody (at least nobody involved in the debate). Rules of ownership are simple to design AFTER everything has been assigned an owner. So (again) who "owns" Antartica? The moon? Who will own the stars? When Europeans began messing around in the new world, I believe they had some kind of claim system (whoever gets there first), which was easily circumvented by a military system (whoever's still there after the fight). But even with these systems in place, do the participants have "actual" ownership, or only "ownership with respect to the established system"? -- Richard H. Graham University of Pittsburgh - CIS rhg2@unix.cis.pitt.edu
stata@hplabsb.HP.COM (Raymie Stata) (01/18/90)
In article <21687@unix.cis.pitt.edu> rhg2@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Rich Graham) writes: >In article <=1R5L=@rpi.edu> keith@pawl.rpi.edu (Keith D. Weiner) writes: >> The correct approach to this question is: "Who created the property?" It is >> THIS person who owns it. He (she) may then transfer ownership voluntarily >> to someone else. > > But doesn't this concept hinge on the ownership of the materials used in > making the property? No. The right to property, properly understood, is the right to use and dispose the product of one's efforts. Productive effort---the act of transforming raw materials into useful product---is the human mode of survival. If you take away one's product, you are interfering with his life-supporting activity, i.e., you are interfering with his right to life. Thus, property rights are an extension of the right to life; if you don't have the right to use and dispose of your product, then your means of survival is in another person's hands. > All (physical) property can be traced back to natural resources which were > created by nobody (at least nobody involved in the debate). Rules of > ownership are simple to design AFTER everything has been assigned an owner. The second sentence is false; it took men hundreds of thousands of years to formulate those rules (as rights and laws). (See not bellow on military.) The first sentence is true, but misleading and irrelevant. Natural resources by themselves are useless. The primary ingredient in production is creative, mental effort, not natural resources. Look at the USSR: a very poor country which is very rich in natural resources. Property rights primarily protect creative, productive effort; protecting material property is the means to this end. > When Europeans began messing around in the new world, I believe they had > some kind of claim system (whoever gets there first), which was easily > circumvented by a military system (whoever's still there after the > fight). That this happened shows how hard it was in fact to formulate those rules which you claimed where so obvious (see above). > So (again) who "owns" Antartica? The moon? Who will own the stars? No one, yet. And given the state of the culture we probably don't have to ``worry'' about individuals being given ownership. Locke formulated the proper principle for converting material in the state of nature into personal property. Briefly stated, this principle is that the person who first transforms material into useful product may claim ownership. During the enlightment, when reason and individualism ruled, Locke's principle was implemented, and the result was the homestead acts and the great homesteading that resulted. In the twentieth century, where irrationalism and collectivism rule, Locke's principle has been forgoten, and as a result the new property frontiers are being swallowed by statism. The air waves are lost, and Antartica and Space will most likely follow. The results: we can look forward to higher taxes, increasing governemnt powers, and possibly territorial wars. It is time for us to rediscover property rights! Regards, Raymie Stata stata%cello@hplabs.hp.com