Property Rights: Philosophic Foundations

Description

Property Rights: Philosophic Foundations, first published in 1977, comprehensively examines the general justifications for systems of private property rights, and discusses with great clarity the major arguments as to the rights and responsibilities of property ownership. In particular, the arguments that hold that there are natural rights derived from first occupancy, labour, utility, liberty and virtue are considered, as are the standard anti-property arguments based on disutility, virtue and inequality, and the belief that justice in distribution must take precedence over private ownership. Lawrence Becker goes on to contend that there are four sound lines of argument for private property that, together with what is sound in the anti-property arguments, must be co-ordinated to form the foundations of a new theory. He therefore expounds a concise but sophisticated theory of property that is relevant to the modern world, and concludes by indicating some of the implications of his theory. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Original Title Page Original Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgments 1 Introduction The need for a new theory Foundations for a new theory Private property and property rights per se Scarcity 2 Property Rights Rights Property rights Justification 3 The Argument from First Occupancy A priori restrictions on first occupancy claims Arguments for first occupancy Conclusion 4 The Labor Theory of Property Acquisition The root idea Locke’s theory Criticism of Locke’s theory Entitlement reconsidered Deserving to own: reformulating the labor theory 5 Arguments from Utility The traditional arguments Analysis of the traditional arguments The economic arguments 6 The Argument from Political Liberty The argument The soundness of the argument 7 Considerations of Moral Character People who will use property to good effect People who will manage property well The virtuous Property as necessary for the development of moral character 8 Anti-Property Arguments Social disutility Self-defeatingness Virtue The perpetuation of inequality 9 The Justification of Property Rights The plurality of general justifications The coordination problem The compatibility requirement The requirement of permitting maximal acquisition The compensation requirement Two additional considerations Probable directions for specific justification Notes Index