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I partly agree with you.
I agree that there must be a way for people to
acquire some sort of property rights in the
state of nature. And certainly that would
include some sort of a right to land and other
natural resources. But from there on it
get's tricky.
- I agree that people in the state of
nature have or can acquire the right to
WORK or USE land. They need it to grow
food, and I agree that it would be morally
absurd to say that they must stand by and
starve because they have no right to use
it. So far, so good.
- I would also agree with you that
acquiring or appropriating natural
resources in the state of nature cannot
morally require everyone's consent or
agreement. That just wouldn't be possible.
Again, people would end up starving while
they waited to get everyone's consent.
- But I don't see how that argument gets
us to really strong property rights in
land. A use right is not the right to
extensively control and to permanently
exclude others from use or control. Let's
call that an EXCLUSIVE right. I think
that's what you are driving at and I don't
think you have argued for it yet.
Here is my first argument against your view: If
no one owns anything to begin with, and if
clearing and planting land confers a really
strong ownership right (a permanent, extensive,
and exclusive right) then it follows that a few
people in the state of nature could justifiably
take control of all the good land and other
people would have only what is left. Carry this
a little further and one group could justifiably
acquire all the land and the rest would have
nothing. The group with the land could force the
others to accept work at the lowest possible
wage (or the smallest possible share of the
crop) simply to survive. All of this would be
quite justified if your view is correct, but it
seems morally absurd to me. Here's a second
argument: The exclusive acquisition you are
advocating completely ignores and overrides the
use rights that everyone had to begin with
without providing any compensation whatever.
Therefore, your view that by occupation or
working land people in the state of nature can
acquire a permanent, extensive, and exclusive
property right in that land is unacceptable.
I think Locke was right when he said that
people in the state of nature had the right to
USE land as long as they could work it and there
was "enough and as good" left for others. In
other words, there must be no loss to others
when the first occupiers take possession of the
land. If there is a loss, some other arrangement
must be found or the others must be compensated.
So there can be limited property rights, but
nothing close to the classical liberal or modern
libertarian view of property.
And let me add this: The compensation I am
talking about is not a one-time deal. It isn't
something due just once at the time of
appropriation. The benefits of appropriating
natural resources continue to accrue over time
and therefore the compensation that owners owe
to non-owners must continue to be paid as long
as the benefits continue to accrue.
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