Property - a philosophical analysis: Argument
pages: 203-224
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1601203BAbstract
After a short historical survey of philosophical views on property, the article contains an analysis of the argument which justifies property by referring to the universal respect due to anyone’s right to use any thing for any purpose. Usage of things for the realization of set ends (or goals) is among the conditions of action/ agency. The capacity of freedom as a specific causal power in real world is dependent on the possibility of using things as means. However, without a real prospect to finish the process of realization of set goals, this causal power would not be real. Property is a scheme within which this prospect becomes a real possibility. Property is thus a condition of effective successful purposeful agency. In property the normative position of all others, besides the owner, has been changed, as they do not have the right to use things possessed for their ends, although they have a right to use any non-possessed thing as a means for whichever end they might set. As a right, property entails, first, the obligation to respect the fact of any established possession, and, second, an obligation to accept and recognize the established possession as ownership, which does not depend on the fact of factual physical control of the property. Ownership is therefore a guarantee of future possession. For this to be established there is a need for an explicit recognition from all others; however this recognition is normatively necessary for everybody, as no-one has a right to withdraw the recognition of a legitimate right to property. This comes from the ontological and axiological difference between persons and things: persons have a right to use and possess unpossessed things as means for realization of ends they set. Keywords: property, possession, ownership, entitlement, freedom, agency, means-ends relation, persons, things
References
Alexander, G. S. & E. M. Peñalver (2012), An Introduction to Property Theory (Cambridge Introductions to Philosophy and Law), Cambridge: University Press.
Aristotel (1960), Politika.Beograd: Kultura.
Babić, J. (2007) (1), „Sreća i moral“, Filozofski godišnjak 25, dostupno na sajtu jovanbabic.com.
Babić, J. (2007) (2), „Smisao i vrednost rada“, Zbornik Matice srpske za društvene nauke, 123 (2), dostupno na sajtu jovanbabic.com.
Babić, J. (2007) (3), „ Sloboda, život i tajna identiteta“, Theoria 2, dostupno na sajtu jovanbabic.com.
Babić, J. (2011) (1), „Želeti i hteti“, Sistem vrednosti i psihijatrija, prir. B. Ćorić, Fakultet za specijalnu edukaciju i rehabilitaciju i FASPER.
Babić, J. (2011) (2), „Tumačenje i vrednovanje“, Theoria 4/2011; dostupno na sajtu jovanbabic.com.
Callies, D. L. et al (2011), Concise Introduction to Property Law, LEXISNEXIS.
Dukeminier, J. et al (2010), Property, Aspen Publishers
Hegel, G.W.F. (1989) Filozofija prava, Sarajevo: Masleša.
Hobs, T. (1991), Levijatan, Niš: Gradina.
Hume, D. (2000), Treatise of Human Nature, Oxford: University Press
Kant, I. (1902–), Die Metaphysik der Sitten, 1797, (Metafizika morala), Kants Werke, Band
VI, hrsg. von Koeniglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1914.
– Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, 1785, (Zasnivanje metafizike morala), Kants Werke, Band IV, hrsg. von Koeniglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1911.
Kulischer, J. (1957), Opća ekonomska povijest, Zagreb: Kultura.
Lok, Dz. (1978) Dve rasprave o vladi, knjiga II, Gl. V, Beograd: Ideje.
Newcomb, W. (2001), Fundamental Legal Concepts as Applied in Judicial Reasoning, Ashgate.
Platon (1980), Država. Beograd: BIGZ.
Ripstein, A. (2009), Force and Freedom, Harvard: University Press.
Ruso, Ž. Ž. (1949) Društveni ugovor i O poreklu i osnovama nejednakosti medju ljudima, Beograd: Prosveta.
Waldron, J. (1988), The Right to Private Property, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Westphal, K. (2002) „A Kantian Justification of Possession“, u: M. Timmons, ed., Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals: Interpretative Essays, Oxford: University Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Articles published in Philosophy and Society are open-access in accordance with the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License.
