Loading...
What is behind the meaning attributed to the expression “property”?
Barcellos, Ana Paula
Barcellos, Ana Paula
Files
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to discuss three ideas under the topic of “property.” First I would like to demonstrate that the meaning and scope of the concept of property are socially and historically constructed and that certain philosophical and ethical concepts that are dominant in a given society perform an important role in that construction. What I wish to suggest is that the definition (i) of what anyone can and cannot appropriate privately (that is: the objects to which ownership of property may apply); and (ii) the rights that owning property may give the owner (that is: what the owner can do with his/her property and what he/she can prevent others from doing with it) has varied in time and space. That variation is derived from a series of factors, specially philosophical and ethical.