Friday, August 23, 2024

natural right to private property: an objective definition

 To find the objective definition of the concept "natural right to private property", we will follow the prescribed steps:


Reduce the concept to its perceptual level roots and basic fundamental axioms/principles:


Perceptual level roots:

Existence of human beings as living entities

Existence of scarce resources in the world (land, objects, materials, etc.)

Human actions of producing, acquiring, using, and exchanging resources

Concepts of ownership, exclusion, and control over resources


Basic axioms/principles:

Reality exists independent of consciousness (Objective Reality)

Humans have a natural right to life (to sustain their existence)

To sustain life, humans must use reason to produce and acquire resources from nature

Reason requires freedom of thought and action (liberty)

Initiating force/fraud against others conflicts with reason and liberty


Additional intermediate steps/principles:

Scarcity of resources means conflicts can arise over their use

Private property rights assign control over resources to specific individuals

This reduces conflicts and allows rational planning for production/use

Property rights derive from each person's right to sustain their own life


Essential/distinguishing characteristics:

A moral principle/ethical norm

Asserts an individual's just claim/entitlement

Over scarce, external resources/objects

Obtained through labor, production, voluntary exchange

Exclusion of others from access/control

Derives from rights to life, liberty, property acquisition


Definition: The natural right to private property is an ethical principle which holds that individuals have a just and exclusive claim of ownership and control over scarce, external resources/objects that they have homesteaded, produced, or acquired through voluntary exchange, deriving from each person's natural rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness/property.

This definition meets the key criteria for being objective:


It is based on the perceptual facts of reality and human nature

It relies on the basic axioms of objective reality, human life as the standard of value, and non-contradictory ethical principles

It follows logically from these foundations through reason alone

It avoids arbitrary assertions, subjective whims, or evasions of reality

The essential characteristics identify the key conceptual common denominators

While not infallible, based on our current knowledge, this attempts to be a maximally general and universal definition grounded in observable facts and the frozen abstractions required for human survival and flourishing.


To further elucidate the objective definition of the "natural right to private property":


Perceptual Roots:

We perceive that human beings exist as living entities who must take actions to sustain their lives by transforming nature's resources into means of survival.

We perceive scarce physical resources in the world (land, materials, objects, etc.) that are required for human life and production.

We observe human actions of producing, acquiring, using, exchanging these scarce resources to sustain life.


Basic Axioms/Principles:

Axiom of Existence - Reality exists as an objective absolute, independent of consciousness.

Axiom of Consciousness - Consciousness and its specific content are directly perceived by each individual.

Axiom of Identity - To exist is to be something specific, with a specific nature/identity.

Human life is conditional, requiring reason to sustain itself by using nature's resources.

The moral purpose of ethics is to determine the right principles for human survival and flourishing.


Additional Principles:

Scarcity of physical resources means potential conflicts over their use/ownership.

Assigning private property rights reduces such conflicts by delineating control.

Private property derives from each person's right to engage in productive work to sustain their life.

Forcible taking of property violates the non-contradictory principles of reason and natural rights.


Essential Characteristics:

Moral principle establishing just claims over scarce resources/objects

Exclusion and control by specific individuals over external things

Obtained through productive labor on un-owned resources (homesteading)

Or through voluntary exchange/free trade of justly acquired property

Based on the ethics that human life is the objective standard of value

And reason/liberty are required to sustain human life


Conceptual Common Denominators:

Individual human beings (unit of ethical analysis)

Physical world of scarce resources

Purposeful actions to transform resources into means of survival

Need to define just/ethical property rules for human cooperation/flourishing

The following definition ties all these essential elements together into an objective conceptual integration - deriving from the observable facts of reality and rational ethical principles required for human survival as life-sustaining beings with the capacity for reason.


Here is the further objective definition of the "natural right to private property":

The natural right to private property is an ethical norm derived from the observable facts that:

Human beings are living entities who must take specific survival-supporting actions;

Taking such actions requires using scarce physical resources from nature;

Scarcity of resources means potential conflicts can arise over their use;

Assigning private property rights over resources reduces such conflicts by clearly delineating individual exclusive control;

Each person has a natural right to their own life, which ethically grounds their right to engage in productive work to sustain that life;

The fruits of a person's productive labor - the property they create or acquire without violating others' rights - are justly their private property;

Forcibly taking justly acquired property violates the ethical principles of individual rights and non-contradiction required for human survival and flourishing.

Therefore, the natural right to private property is the moral entitlement and just claim of every person to obtain, use, exchange, and have exclusive control over scarce physical resources and objects that they have homesteaded (appropriated from un-owned nature through their labor), produced through their own effort, or acquired through voluntary trade without violating others' pre-existing property rights.


This right is grounded in the objective metaphysical reality of human beings as living entities who must take specific survival-supporting actions using reason and engaging in productive work on nature to sustain their lives. It is an objective ethical application of the basic axioms of existence, identity, consciousness, human life as the standard of value, reason, property acquisition, and non-contradictory principles for human cooperation and societal norms.

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