Ariadne's Thread on Property
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Ayesha Speaking
It seems to me that natural resources were originally something available for all. If we are to justify individuals taking over natural resources and having strong property rights to them, then it can only be with something like the Lockean proviso.

I think the best way to formulate the proviso is this: Resources can be taken as exclusive private property only so long as the owners fulfill certain obligations to the common good. At a minimum, this would mean that the basic needs of everyone are met.

And I would go further. Pope Pius XI published an encyclical called On Reconstructing the Social Order (also called Quadragesimo Anno) in 1931. He emphasized the obligations of property owners to the common good. One of the requirements he set down was that as the wealth of society increases it must be shared by all social classes. [Quadragesimo Anno, Section 57]. There is nothing is the libertarian view to require this (although it may sometimes happen for various of reasons). But my view is that this obligation to the common good is built into the justification of private property itself.


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