Things that Can’t be Property

There’s a whole genre of libertarian thought about things that can and can’t be property. Other people, for example.

Then we get to intellectual property arguments. Can ideas and images be property? Some say no, because it amounts to making a claim on a thought in someone else’s head. I don’t see why not, so long as the right is defined in such a way that one stays out of other’s heads, and focuses on their behavior (making copies for example).

I think my two-year-old son has now tried to assert rights over something that can’t be property. Or not severable property anyway. One of our cats is brown with black spots. The other day, while the animal was perched safely on top of the fridge, the little human raged below, “MY spots! MY spots! Come Down! Give me my spots!!!” This lead me to try to imagine the spots without the cat, or the spots on the child. Difficult. I hope, when he is older, the little fellow remembers this incident, so I may ask him what he wanted with the spots.

SHARE: