Non-autonomous sentient beings and original acquisition

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Libertarians concede that non-autonomous sentient beings pose a problem for their theory. But, while they acknowledge that libertarianism denies nonautonomous sentient beings basic moral rights, libertarians have overlooked how their theory also denies non-autonomous sentient beings basic moral powers. In this article, I show how the libertarian entitlement theory of justice, specifically, the theory for the original acquisition of holdings, denies non-autonomous sentient beings the moral power to originally acquire or make property. Attempts to avoid this problem by appealing to interests or preference autonomy are likely to be unsuccessful.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)293-299
Number of pages7
JournalAnalysis
Volume77
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • Locke, John, 1632, 1704
  • Nozick, Robert
  • entitlement attitudes
  • libertarianism
  • right of property

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