(08-05-2013, 03:49 PM)Yini Kihn Wrote:No, what you're talking about is entirely a consequence of scarcity. Remove scarcity as a factor and property is completely unnecessary. If everyone's needs are met, "stealing" ceases to exist as a concept.(08-05-2013, 02:30 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote: "Property" itself is a concept born largely of a materialistic culture, and I think it's important to recognize that.
I don't even think you'll get agreement on that.
Property, from my perspective, is a fundamental consequence of human nature and natural rights. If you don't have a right to the food you grow, the clothes you make, or the shelter you've constructed, you necessarily don't have a right to live as all of those things are prerequisites. To say property is a concept born of a materialistic culture completely neglects this basic fact of reality.
And when I say 'property' is unnecessary, I am very obviously assuming that everything becomes everyone's 'property', as in you have an automatic, assumed right to the things that are required to live, not that no one has a right to the things required to live.
There are entire generations of human culture where the idea of 'property', at least in the sense we think of it, simply did not exist. At most we had a sense of 'territory', which is not the same thing at all (and is something present among all kinds of predators across the entire animal kingdom). The most prominent (and relatively recent) example I can think of are Native Americans, who lacked both the concepts of exact time and individual property that the colonists had, and frequently got into trouble with the colonists when they simply nicked things because they didn't understand their idea of 'individual property rights'. Remember, everything was 'property of the tribe'. At most they traded things between tribes, but within the tribe you simply took what you needed when you needed it.
I suppose I should amend my statement to say 'private property' is what is in question here, not necessarily the very concept of 'property' itself. And while I'm at it, it is extremely plausible for Miqo'te tribes to have an idea of 'property' that is very similar to Native Americans, as they would simply share needed tools and food within the tribe proper, and may have something of a culture clash when moving to typical Eorzean society with their idea of 'ownership'. Of course this can vary from tribe to tribe, but I would not consider it implausible that someone simply has difficulties understanding that idea when they were not raised with it.
