RG

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Society and the economy

KEY THINKER

Aristotle (384–322 BCE)

BEFORE

423–347 BCE Plato argues in The Republic that rulers should hold property collectively for the common good.

AFTER

1–250 CE In classical Roman law the sum of rights and powers a person has over a thing is called dominium.

1265–74 Thomas Aquinas argues that owning property is natural and good, but private property is less important than the public good.

1689 John Locke states that what you create by your own labor is yours by right.

1848 Karl Marx writes the Communist Manifesto, advocating the complete abolition of private property.

We learn about ownership and personal property ...

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