Single Idea 19876

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 4. Property rights]

Full Idea

If the first gathering of acorns and apples made them not a man's, nothing else could. ...Will anyone say he had no right to them because he had not the consent of all mankind to make them his?

Gist of Idea

Gathering natural fruits gives ownership; the consent of other people is irrelevant

Source

John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 028)

Book Reference

Locke,John: 'Two Treatises of Government' [Everyman 1988], p.130


A Reaction

The ideas of Nozick are all in this sentence. Does this idea justify the enclosure of common land? The first member of the community who thought of Locke's labour theory had a huge head's start. Liberal individualism rampant.

Related Idea

Idea 18644 States can't enforce mutual aid on citizens, or interfere for their own good [Nozick]