What does it mean “to own” something?
What does it mean to own something physical, like a book or a plot of land?
I grew up knowing people owned things. I owned my shoes. My parents owned their houses. Nobody owned the sky.
I had a vague sense that Native Americans found colonists weird for claiming to own land. Other cultures didn’t share the sense of ownership my culture did. People seemed to think their system was probably better, but too naive since it lost out.
I heard that communists said “private property is theft,” which sounded interesting but it didn’t suggest what to do about it. What about my shoes? Did owning them imply they were stolen? After I wore them enough, who else would want them?
What owning something doesn’t mean
To own something doesn’t enable you to use it. People can use things they don’t own. Cultures without much private property, like egalitarian hunter-gatherers, use lots of things.
To own something doesn’t enable you to stop others from using it. You can stop people from using things you don’t own.
What it means to own something
Ownership is a social concept like rights, which I wrote about in What is a right?.
To own something means that if you want to stop others from using it, the government will stop them from using it for you.
I don’t mean to bog down in the details. The point is that someone owning something means people with certain roles in the government will prevent others from using it if you ask them to. To own a car means that the government will enforce others not using it and will try to return it if someone takes it.
I don’t think most people get what ownership mean. Maybe I’m missing something too. If so, I welcome corrections or criticism.
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