Money’s invention legitimizes unequal land possession without society
Evidence
But since gold and silver, being little useful to the life of man in proportion to food, raiment, and carriage, has its value only from the consent of men, whereof labour yet makes, in great part, the measure, it is plain, that men have agreed to a disproportionate and unequal possession of the earth, they having, by a tacit and voluntary consent, found out, a way how a man may fairly possess more land than he himself can use the product of, by receiving in exchange for the overplus gold and silver, which may be hoarded up without injury to any one; these metals not spoiling or decaying in the hands of the possessor. This partage of things in an inequality of private possessions, men have made practicable out of the bounds of society, and without compact, only by putting a value on gold and silver, and tacitly agreeing in the use of money: for in governments, the laws regulate the right of property, and the possession of land is determined by positive constitutions. — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 61
Categorization
- XREF: Money is the causal hinge that moves Locke from the labor proviso to unlimited accumulation — key to later critiques of Lockean property. — connects to: Property rights are limited to what one can use before spoilage — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 40; Money emerged by mutual consent as a durable medium — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 58; Money is an impersonal standard that negates the content of goods — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 65 (+3 more)
Related
- Money emerged by mutual consent as a durable medium (similarity 0.84)
Broader Connections
- Money is an impersonal standard that negates the content of goods
#expands(0.85) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 65 - Feudal landholding conferred usage rights, not private ownership.
#expands(0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 67