How to Avoid Conflict

Conflict

The very institution of private property is about avoiding conflict.  Any deviation from private property promotes it.  This is not a new concept.  Some want to perpetuate it.  While many of us respect private property in our daily lives, the political class doesn’t.  It’s quite possible that much can be blamed on the so-called intellectuals for getting the public to believe such nonsense.  In fact, dogs understand private property better than many modern humans. 

This could very well be a personality disorder, mental disease, or failure to except the truth.  It could be as Mises called it, the Fourier Complex.  Crusoe won’t encounter rules of conduct by himself on the island.  It won’t be until the second person arrives that they’ll have to decide how to avoid conflict.  They each recognize they own their own body, and everything extends from there.  Property is an extension of your body.

Man is unique from the rest of the animal kingdom.  It can be said they have more specialize tools than we’re equipped with.  This doesn’t mean we were forgotten.  We have something no animal possesses.  We are equipped with reasoning ability.  We may not have natural weapons, but our reasoning ability has placed us above all else.  We didn’t get here by being the strongest and most fearsome.  In other words, we aren’t—technically—the fittest. 

Our reasoning ability extends beyond what is immediately noticeable.  We’re the only animal in the animal kingdom with self-consciousness.  Other animals may have consciousness, but they aren’t self-aware like humans.   We can sit in judgment upon ourselves.  The ability to look at ourselves from above is unique among humans.  As Brand Blanshard pointed out, “The stupidest of man, if not a pathological case, can in some measure do them all.”

Only we can directly control our bodies.  Others can only indirectly control them.  In this sense, we are the first users, or it can even be said we homesteaded our bodies.  The concept of property is not only natural, it’s necessary for our existence.  Life can continue after private property has been understood and undermined, but will quickly come to an end once the capital stock runs out.  The endowment of the world can’t be enhanced once property has been perverted.

Reference

Hans-Hermann Hoppe; Economy, Society, and History

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