Interesting meditation on property rights

Why, if at all, are we entitled to the fruits of our labors?

Talking about property rights, Chris refers to one common justification for property: namely, that 'creating something generates rights over it'. There's no doubt that it's a widely shared moral intuition. If I fashion an old piece of wood into an intricate sculpture, whose should the sculpture be but mine? If you spend long days writing a literary masterpiece, are you not a proper beneficiary of its publication and sale? What is less clear is why we think the creation of the object generates an entitlement on the part of its creator. Is this because it's he or she that's put in the effort, and so deserves the reward? Or is it because, independently of how much effort has been expended, something of the person is thought to be, loosely, 'in' the object created? Neither answer is unproblematic in its implications. More...