- Lockean proviso
The Lockean Proviso is a portion of John Locke's
labor theory of property which says that though individuals have a right to acquire private property from nature, that they must leave "enough and as good in common...to others."The phrase "Lockean Proviso" was coined by political philosopher
Robert Nozick . It is based on the ideas elaborated byJohn Locke in hisSecond Treatise of Government . Locke's ideas ofself-ownership allow a person the freedom to mix his or her labor withnatural resources , originally common property, thus making it theirprivate property . Locke concludes that people need to be able to protect the resources they are using to live on, their property, and that this is anatural right . Nozick used this idea to form his Lockean Proviso which governs the initial acquisition of property in a society. Like Locke, Nozick believes in self-ownership and thus is alibertarian . But in order for his ideas of ownership of property to get off the ground and be cogent, he devised the criterion to determine what makes property acquisition just, which is the proviso. The proviso says that though every appropriation of property is a diminution of another's rights to it, it is okay as long as it does not make anyone worse off than they would have been without any private property.Locke's proviso has been used by geoists and
socialists to point to land acquisition as illegitimate without compensation.References
*Locke, John (ed. Richard Cox). "Second Treatise of Government" (1690).Harlan Davidson, 1982.
*Nozick, Robert. "Anarchy, State, and Utopia".Basic Books, 1974.ee also
*
Georgism
*Geolibertarianism
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.