Private Property

Published on January 26, 2025, filed under Philosophy and Everything Else (RSS feed for all categories).

Fitting the tune of how we choose to f up, this quote, from Daniel Loick, in his excellent The Abuse of Property:

First, private property has led to a condition in which a vast number of people, namely working people, cannot use the goods they have themselves produced, since these are appropriated by capitalists.

Second, private property leads people to act in ways that systematically ruin the ecological foundations of a (sustainable) use of the planet.

And third, private property means that people are required to secure their subsistence under conditions that continually and profoundly damage their own subjective capacity to use the environment in an authentic and self-determined way.

This isn’t new, this isn’t all, but I’m not sure if, when you’re thinking more about it, when you’re looking for the (even a) root cause of the many, major, massive issues we as mankind face today, there’s much more coming before… private property. Please tell me (please do). ^*

^* With this I don’t mean fundamental or universal causes like fear or love; they’re useful to be aware of as motivations, but they’re different from concepts like property (and warrant a separate discussion).

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager for small and large enterprises, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)