Is Property Theft?

by phil on Sunday Aug 24, 2003 11:46 PM
property rights

Proudhon wrote What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government.

I hear this statment a lot: Remember, Property is Theft. So I did a little research.

In summary here is the claim:

Someone (oh, I should know his name) reasoned that property was based on the idea of being able to prevent others using it and so he described this as being similar to what a thief does and so we have the expression: Property is theft. Which it can't really be because theft is only theft if you already have property. Theft is taking something away from someone who owns it against that owner's will. To have concept of property ownership then allows you to have the concept of theft. (Source)

I think that if you take any concept and abstractify it enough, you can bend it toward any arbitrary direction. Nontheless, the concept that ownership is not just an illusion, but also wrong, is an interesting mind-bend.

Google Search:
property is theft