Ariadne's Thread on Property
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On Property

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Curent Speaker Another way to approach original acquisition is by considering our property in ourselves. Everyone belongs to himself or herself. My body, my intellect, and my talents are mine. Therefore, whatever I create (or bargain for) using my body, my intellect, and my talents is mine, as long as I don't use force or threaten others with the use of force.

If you deny this, you are not treating me as a human being -- as an end in myself. Instead, you are saying that my body, my intellect, and my talents can be used to provide goods and services for others without my consent. How is that morally permissible? Those things are part of me. They're mine. How can anyone else have a claim on them without my agreement? To put it differently, how can you possibly think that you are born with a right to what I produce?



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