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Property as a Moral Phenomenon

Libertarians emphasize the significance of private property, but explaining the moral foundations of property is notoriously difficult. This chapter argues that property does not rest on a single factor such as labor, as Locke proposed. Instead, property emerges from a wide array of morally significant factors that support someone’s claim to control over an asset, including not just labor but discovery, creation, and many other actions. On this view, Locke misunderstood his own theory and cast it far more narrowly than he should have. The resulting picture vindicates private property as a moral phenomenon and not merely a social convention, as Hume and his followers maintain.