Robert Nozick (20th century,
USA)
“Whoever makes something
having bought or contracted for all other held resources used in the process
(transferring some of his holdings for these cooperating factors), is entitled
to it. The situation is not one of something’s getting made, and there being an
open question of who is to get it. Things come into the world already attached
to people having entitlements over them.”
“Taxation of earnings from
labor is on a par with forced labor. Seizing the results of someone's labor is
equivalent to seizing hours from him and directing him to carry on various
activities.”
Summary
1-The first passage talks about the rights to “something”.
When something is made, it is not the process that is important, but who
expended the time and resources used to make the creation. Those that expended
the time and resources should have the rights to the creation, therefore the
creation comes “into the world already attached to people having entitlements
over them.”
2-The second passage talks about taxation. Say someone works
for 10 hours and earns $5 per hour. If
the tax is 10%, that person loses $5. That person essentially labored for nothing
for an hour. Nozick believes in self ownership, where individuals own their own
bodies, talents, abilities, labor, and the products derived from them.
Therefore, taxation is compared to forced labor as the person expends time and
labor for zero earnings.
Examples
1-An example for the first passage would be patents,
copyrights, and intellectual properties (IPs). People/corporations that spend
time and resources on a product/creation should be entitled to making a profit.
Example: Oracle Corp. v. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.
2-An example to the second passage would be pirating
software. The creators of software spend labor and resources to create the
product. When people pirate the software, they are essentially depriving the
creators’ earnings from their labor and resources. Example: Pirating targets
almost every software, but here’s one on Adobe and Microsoft.
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