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Single Idea 21738

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

Full Idea

Why should we not regard land as originally collectively owned rather than, as Nozick takes for granted, owned by no one?

Gist of Idea

Maybe land was originally collectively owned, rather than unowned?

Source

comment on Robert Nozick (Anarchy,State, and Utopia [1974], p.178) by G.A. Cohen - Are Freedom and Equality Compatible? 2

Book Ref

'Contemporary Political Philosophy (2nd ed)', ed/tr. Goodin,RE/Pettit,P [Blackwell 2006], p.420

A Reaction

Did native Americans and Australians collectively own the land? Lots of peoples, I suspect, don't privately own anything, because the very concept has never occured to them (and they have no legal system).

The 14 ideas from 'Anarchy,State, and Utopia'

18641 If people hold things legitimately, just distribution is simply the result of free exchanges [Nozick, by Kymlicka]
20539 Property is legitimate by initial acquisition, voluntary transfer, or rectification of injustice [Nozick, by Swift]
18645 Nozick assumes initial holdings include property rights, but we can challenge that [Kymlicka on Nozick]
18646 How did the private property get started? If violence was involved, we can redistribute it [Kymlicka on Nozick]
18647 If property is only initially acquired by denying the rights of others, Nozick can't get started [Kymlicka on Nozick]
18648 Freedom to live according to our own conception of the good is the ultimate value [Nozick, by Kymlicka]
18643 A minimal state should protect, but a state forcing us to do more is unjustified [Nozick]
18642 Individual rights are so strong that the state and its officials must be very limited in power [Nozick]
18644 States can't enforce mutual aid on citizens, or interfere for their own good [Nozick]
20585 If an experience machine gives you any experience you want, should you hook up for life? [Nozick]
20521 Can I come to own the sea, by mixing my private tomato juice with it? [Nozick]
21737 Unowned things may be permanently acquired, if it doesn't worsen the position of other people [Nozick]
21738 Maybe land was originally collectively owned, rather than unowned? [Cohen,GA on Nozick]
22661 My Anarchy, State and Utopia neglected our formal social ties and concerns [Nozick on Nozick]