on Ownership

Ownership is a cultural construction. The one exception is that you might say that at least you own your own naked body, but even then there are problems at the boundaries. I suppose some club owner could claim he owns the air inside his club and charges anyone for any air they breathe inside. If a chef in a restaurant makes a culinary creation and you pay for it and eat it, you might say you own the food inside your stomach. The digested remnants would become part of your body, but they are from what was created by the chef.

Ownership comes down to what law is written that governs a society, which is part of culture, and what is in power to enforce it.


my comment on Are there Varieties of Ownership? (Philosophers' Playground, the blog of Steven Gimbel)