From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government is the title of a book by the 19th century French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.
Proudhon declared that "Property is theft", as well as "Property is Freedom" and also claimed that "Property is impossible." Although he was a socialist, he rejected communitarianism and believed that individual possession -- which he distinguished from private property -- was necessary both for liberty and for an efficient economy.
Unfortunately, as Douglas Adams later pointed out in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the term property is in common usage as a term for what Proudhon calls possession. Taken out of context, it can be an excellent way to justify stealing: "Property is theft, right? Therefore theft is property, therefore this [insert stolen item here] is mine..."
(please write more on "Property is Theft" and the nature of private property)
The text to What Is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government can be found in various places:
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