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Tordmor comments on Open Thread: April 2010 - Less Wrong
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So, there's the problem. I was using property as "having the right to choose what is done with something". I looked it up in a dictionary but that wasn't helpful. So what is your definition of property?
Edit:
Wikipedia seems to be on my side: "Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy their property, and/or to exclude others from doing these things." I think this boils down to "the right to choose what is done with it".
On a side note it seems that "personal property" is closer to what I meant than "private property".
Laws pertaining to personal property give me the reasonable expectation that someone else will take, indeed, insist on taking responsibility for punishing anyone who chooses to take my stuff. If I take too much responsibility for keeping my personal property I expect to be arrested. I have handed over responsibility in this instance so that I can be assured of my personal property. This is an acceptable (and necessary) compromise. Personal responsibility is at odds with reliance on social norms and laws enforced by others.
I am all in favor of personal property, individual choice and personal responsibility. They often come closely aligned, packaged together in a political ideology. Yet they are sometimes in conflict and one absolutely does not imply the other.