Today, we may be discussing the core of capitalism. We discussed the big banking already, but that is perhaps a bit abstract for us, private citizens.
What counts for us much more is how much you can own as private property and, in particular, how you can accumulate as much as possible.
This has to do with two basic things: private property and the next step, selling your private property, making the best profit possible.
The latter is about the question of how to set the price of what you like to sell. What is a "just price"? The other issue is: how does something become private property?
Now think of it that here we listen to a man who was born in 1225, and just try to imagine in what kind of world he lived,
and then listen to what his mind produced about the question: how does something become my private property? It is awesome and timeless.
First, it's crucial to understand Aquinas's starting point. The ultimate owner of all things is God. Humans have "dominion"
(heerschsppij/Herrschaft/herravälde) over the Earth and its resources as stewards, granted to them by God through natural law.
This "common dominion" means the Earth is meant for the common good of all humanity. So, as such, based on natural law we don't own this earth. It is not our property.
Private property, which actually means dominion, is a human addition to this natural law, justified by reason for the better management and use of resources.
Aquinas describes two principles of acquiring ownership of something: Original Acquisition and Derivative Acquisition.
Let's discuss today Original Acquisition. This is how something that is currently unowned or held in common becomes owned by a specific person:
Aquinas calls it "Occupation". This is the taking possession of something that has no prior owner.
The most common example Aquinas would have known from Roman law is taking possession of a wild animal, a gem from the seashore, or an abandoned thing.
The second way is "by Principle". This means, the moment you take physical control of the thing with the intention to own it, it becomes yours.
The justification is that human reason dictates that, for the efficient use and care of resources, unowned things should belong
to the first person who invests their labor and intention into them. This is a precursor to the later "labor theory" of property.
An example is catching a wild fish in the ocean. The ocean and its fish are common to all, but the act of catching a specific fish makes it your private property.
I'll discuss Derivative Acquisition in the next lecture, but what strikes me today is Thomas Aquinas' starting point: The ultimate owner of all things is God.
I recall so well, that we have discussed this same thesis here but then without the God concept. The earth simply is, and we live on it like all living things.
What gives a human being the right to land on a shore and claim that land as his property, while there are already living other people there?
We still live with the same questions as those in 1240.....
Thank you for your attention.....
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
of Economic Thought (2012)
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
26 - The Bonobo and the Atheist 9 Jan 2024 / 1102
27 - Artificial Intelligence 9 Feb 2024 / 1108
28 - Why Am I Here 6 Sept 2024 / 1139
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