Political Philosophy PDF EPUB

What Is Property?

Downloads: Under 100
First published: 1840
Pages: 377

Read online EPUB Download Save

About this book

When Pierre-Joseph Proudhon asked "What is property?" and answered "Property is theft," he coined one of the most quoted lines in the history of political thought. This 1840 treatise builds a careful, often surprising argument that the right of property, as exercised over land and capital, has no just foundation and rests instead on force and legal fiction. Proudhon separates ownership earned by one's own labor from the kind that lets some men live off the labor of others, and in the process he became the first thinker to call himself an anarchist. Combative, closely reasoned, and deeply influential on later socialists and anarchists alike, it remains a founding document of both traditions. Free to download as a PDF or EPUB.

About the author

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809 to 1865) was a French printer, journalist, and philosopher, and the first person to describe himself as an anarchist. His writings on property, mutualism, and federalism shaped socialist and libertarian thought and drew both admiration and sharp criticism from Karl Marx.

Open the author page