What is property, and why does our species have it? In The Property Species, Bart J. Wilson explores how humans acquire, perceive, and know the custom of property, and why this might be relevant to understanding how property works in the twenty-first century. Arguing that neither the sciences nor the humanities synthesizes a full account of property, the book offers a cross-disciplinary compromise that is sure to be controversial: Property is a universal and uniquely human custom. Integrating cognitive linguistics with philosophy of property and a fresh look at property disputes in the common law, the book makes the case that symbolic-thinking humans locate the meaning of property within a thing. That is, all human beings and only human beings have property in things, and at its core, property rests on custom, not rights. Such an alternative to conventional thinking contends that the origins of property lie not in food, mates, territory, or land, but in the very human act of creating, with symbolic thought, something new that did not previously exist. Written by an economist who marvels at the natural history of humankind, the book is essential reading for experts and any reader who has wondered why people claim things as "Mine!", and what that means for our humanity.

About the Author
Bart J. Wilson is Professor of Economics and Law and Donald P. Kennedy Endowed Chair in Economics and Law at Chapman University.

Reviews
Considers the human propensity to conduct ourselves in an orderly fashion with regard to the external things of the world, focusing on the notion of property. * Journal of Economic Literature (Volume 59, no. 1) *
This book is a tour de force and will surely be a landmark in thought. The way Wilson weaves together law and economics, psychology and history, experiment and theory, to make a fresh argument about a very old subject is remarkable. It's a worthy successor to Locke. * Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190936785
Author Bart J. Wilson
Format Hardback
Page Count 264
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 508g
Dimensions(mm) 159mm * 241mm * 19mm