Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2014

Keywords

Human flourishing, Pluralist conception, Social obligation norm of property, Homeowner Association rules

Disciplines

Law and Politics | Law and Society | Property Law and Real Estate

Abstract

Property theorists commonly suppose that property has as its ends certain private values, such as individual autonomy and personal security. This Essay contends that property’s real end is human flourishing, that is, living a life that is as fulfilling as possible. Human flourishing, although property’s ultimate end, is neither monistic nor simple. Rather, it is inclusive and comprises multiple values. Those values, the content of human flourishing, derives, at least in part, from an understanding of the sorts of beings we are―social and political. A consequence of this conception of the human condition is that the values that constitute human flourishing—property’s ends—are public as well as private. Further, the public and private values that serve as property’s ends are mutually dependent for their realization. Hence, any account of property that assigns it solely to the private sphere, categorically removed from public values, is incoherent.

Publication Citation

Published in: Iowa Law Review, vol. 99, no. 3 (March 2014).

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