Monthly Archives: May 2012

Is Non-Lockean “Justice in Acquisition” Possible?

Even while acknowledging the prevalence of great historical wrongs that may cloud existing land titles, libertarian theorists have nevertheless felt compelled to provide an account of how natural resources, particularly land, may be justly acquired in the first instance. See my earlier discussion here: http://naturalrightslibertarian.com/2011/08/the-widespread-fraud-objection-to-the-lockenozick-account-of-original-appropriation/. The absence of a plausible theory of just initial appropriation would invite the claim by egalitarians that since natural assets could not, even theoretically, have been acquired in a morally legitimate fashion, the value they represent should be redistributed in the name of social justice. The classic libertarian justification for original appropriation follows Locke in holding that land may be converted from common use to individual ownership by transforming it through labor, typically by homesteading. See ASU, 174-82. Continue Reading »

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