Property is theft!: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively ← Previous edit Next edit →Content deleted Content addedVisual WikitextInline

Revision as of 12:42, 21 July 2005 editPile0nades (talk \| contribs)905 editsm →See also ← Previous edit		Revision as of 20:26, 1 August 2005 edit undoNikodemos (talk \| contribs)7,970 edits rewritten; explained the argumentNext edit →
Line 1:		Line 1:
	'''Property is theft!''' is a slogan coined by the ] ] ] in his book '']''.		'''Property is theft!''' is a slogan coined by the ] ] ] in his book '']''.

			Taken at face value, "Property is theft!" appears to be an ], because theft, by definition, means depriving someone of his property. However, what Proudhon meant with the slogan was that (private) property is ''illegitimate'' - that there is no moral justification for the existence of private property, and that private property therefore represents a sort of "theft" from the common property of all mankind.
	While long ignored, the term has been resurrected by the ] and the ] believers.

			The argument goes as follows: Humans do not create matter out of nothing. They only use their labor power or their intellect to turn raw materials into useful objects. Thus, private property over any object is based upon private property over the raw materials that were used in making that object. Raw materials are extracted from the Earth, from land. Thus, the existence of any private property requires private property over land. But private property over land is unjustified: no human being ''made'' the land, so why should anyone own it? Even following the ] - the idea that a piece of unclaimed land should become the property of the first man who settles on it and works that land - the fact remains that virtually every piece of land on Earth was ''stolen'' many times since the arrival of the very first humans on it. Thus, private property over land - and, by extension, all private property - is based on theft.
	] and her ] followers often like to cite this slogan as an ], and as evidence of the contradictory nature of leftist thought, on the grounds that "theft" only has meaning when defined in terms of the taking of property, making it nonsensical to regard property itself as theft.

	In response, it might be argued that the Objectivist critique is a misreading of Proudhon. Proudhon used "property" in a quite specialised sense, for example distinguishing private ''property'' from private ''possessions''. In the context of the slogan, "property" clearly refers to the former; that is, the holding of land and ], as opposed to personal effects. The argument expressed is that all property (but not all possessions) should be public property, with the consequence that ownership of private property constitutes theft or ] of public property.

	It should also be noted that two other slogans of Proudhon's were "property is freedom" and "property is impossible", indicating that Proudhon was perhaps deliberately emphasising certain apparent contradictions in ideas about property.

	==See also==		==See also==

Revision as of 20:26, 1 August 2005

Property is theft! is a slogan coined by the French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right of Government.

Taken at face value, "Property is theft!" appears to be an oxymoron, because theft, by definition, means depriving someone of his property. However, what Proudhon meant with the slogan was that (private) property is illegitimate - that there is no moral justification for the existence of private property, and that private property therefore represents a sort of "theft" from the common property of all mankind.

The argument goes as follows: Humans do not create matter out of nothing. They only use their labor power or their intellect to turn raw materials into useful objects. Thus, private property over any object is based upon private property over the raw materials that were used in making that object. Raw materials are extracted from the Earth, from land. Thus, the existence of any private property requires private property over land. But private property over land is unjustified: no human being made the land, so why should anyone own it? Even following the homestead principle - the idea that a piece of unclaimed land should become the property of the first man who settles on it and works that land - the fact remains that virtually every piece of land on Earth was stolen many times since the arrival of the very first humans on it. Thus, private property over land - and, by extension, all private property - is based on theft.

Revision as of 20:26, 1 August 2005

See also