A Discourse on Property

Abstract

John Locke's theory of property is perhaps the most distinctive and the most influential aspect of his political theory. In this book James Tully uses an hermeneutical and analytical approach to offer a revolutionary revision of early modern theories of property, focusing particularly on that of Locke. Setting his analysis within the intellectual context of the seventeenth century, Professor Tully overturns the standard interpretations of Locke's theory, showing that it is not a justification of private property. Instead he shows it to be a theory of individual use rights within a framework of inclusive claim rights. He links Locke's conception of rights not merely to his ethical theory, but to the central arguments of his epistemology, and illuminates the way in which Locke's theory is tied to his metaphysical views of God and man, his theory of revolution and his account of a legitimate polity.

Apropiación privada de la tierra y derechos políticos en la obra de John Locke

“…Él no explicita este criterio en Two Treatises, sino que simplemente lo asume como base de su análisis de los diversos tipos de representación: «toda vez que el pueblo elija a sus representantes conforme a medidas innegablemente justas e iguales que se ajusten a la forma original de gobierno, no podrá dudarse de que se trata de la voluntad y de un acto de la sociedad» (T. T., II, §158). Las medidas iguales basadas en la constitución original no pueden ser sino la igualdad natural de todos los hombres (T. T., II, §5) 60 .…”

D. G. Ritchie on socialism, history and Locke

“…60 For James Tully, Ritchie's objection can be answered easily. 61 No doubt, Locke would have replied that, simply by selling their rights to their labour and its products, the owners of the materials used in producing the loaf had broken the links on which Ritchie's objection depended. This would also justify the master's ownership of turf cut by his servant.…”

Some philosophical issues in corporate governance: the role of property in stakeholder theory

“…In other words,``by property, we should not understand, as we do today, the mere ownership of material goods, but what Pufendorf and Grotius, theorists of natural right, called the suum, that which properly belongs to someone and from which others must abstain'' [43]. According to James Tully [44], the term``property'' signi®es that someone has a right over something and that that right cannot be taken away without their consent. Consequently, property is the basis of the expression of liberty and, from this point of view, Locke produces a modern theory of property.…”