Description
Book SynopsisWhat is property, and why does our species have it? In The Property Species, Bart J. Wilson explores how humans acquire, perceive, and know the custom of property, and why this might be relevant to understanding how property works in the twenty-first century. Arguing that neither the sciences nor the humanities synthesizes a full account of property, the book offers a cross-disciplinary compromise that is sure to be controversial: Property is a universal and uniquely human custom. Integrating cognitive linguistics with philosophy of property and a fresh look at property disputes in the common law, the book makes the case that symbolic-thinking humans locate the meaning of property within a thing. That is, all human beings and only human beings have property in things, and at its core, property rests on custom, not rights. Such an alternative to conventional thinking contends that the origins of property lie not in food, mates, territory, or land, but in the very human act of creating, with symbolic thought, something new that did not previously exist. Written by an economist who marvels at the natural history of humankind, the book is essential reading for experts and any reader who has wondered why people claim things as Mine!, and what that means for our humanity.
Trade ReviewConsiders the human propensity to conduct ourselves in an orderly fashion with regard to the external things of the world, focusing on the notion of property. * Journal of Economic Literature (Volume 59, no. 1) *
This book is a tour de force and will surely be a landmark in thought. The way Wilson weaves together law and economics, psychology and history, experiment and theory, to make a fresh argument about a very old subject is remarkable. It's a worthy successor to Locke. * Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Cover Art Note Bibliographic Note Prologue PART 1 CLAIM AND TITLE: ORIGINS 1. The Meaning of Property in Things 2. All Animals Use Things, Specifically Food 3. Primates Socially Transmit Tool Practices, but Humans Share Meaning-Laden Customs 4. What Is Right Is Not Taken Out of the Rule, but Let the Rule Arise Out of What Is Right 5. The Custom of Property Is Physically Contained PART 2 CLAIM AND TITLE: EFFECTS 6. My Claims Tie Together Modern Philosophies of Property Law 7. Disputes Explicate How We Cognize Property, Out of Which We Discover a Clear General Rule 8. The Results of a Test Are Agreeable to the Prediction 9. Economics Is Founded Upon Property, Not Property Rights Epilogue Cases Cited References
