The Problem of Property: Taking the Freedom of Nonowners Seriously

by Karl Widerquist

This book is Karl Widerquist’s first statement of the “indepentarian” theory of property, called, “Justice as the Pursuit of Accord” (JPA). It argues the natural-rights-based arguments for unequal private property have failed to establish that institution as right. It is a legal privilege, inconsistent with the maximum equal freedom from interference. The book discusses how to establish and maintain a property system that best promotes freedom from interference. Paying taxes and obeying regulations is part of the purchase price of the right to control, use, or use-up any good made partly out of natural resources (i.e. all goods), because doing so interferes with people who control, use, or use-up fewer natural resources. A sufficient portion of that tax revenue has to be redistributed in the form of a Universal Basic Income to ensure the property system is in the interest of everyone.

190 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

Karl Widerquist is a Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University-Qatar. He specializes in distributive justice: the ethics of who has what. He is an interdisciplinary scholar who holds two doctorates, one in Normative Political Theory (Oxford University 2006) and one in Economics (the City University of New York 1996). His writing and research cross the disciplines of philosophy, politics, economics, anthropology, and the philosophy of social science. He has published dozens of scholarly articles and eleven books including Universal Basic Income: Essential Knowledge, the Problem of Property, the Prehistory of Private Property, A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments; Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy; and Independence, Propertylessness, and Basic Income: A Theory of Freedom as the Power to Say No. Much of his writing is about Universal Basic Income. He was a founding editor of the journal Basic Income Studies, cofounder of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network, and cochair of the Basic Income Earth Network. The Atlantic Monthly called him “a leader of the worldwide Basic Income movement.”
Website: www.widerquist.com
Twitter: @KarlWiderquist
Email: Karl@widerquist.com