Original Common Ownership and Cosmopolitan Holdings

Abstract

Versions of the idea that the earth’s natural resources and land are a commons to which all persons have equal rights have recently become focal points of global justice debates. What precisely they amount to, however, is less clear. What are the grounds of such an ‘original common ownership’ and how is it to be understood? How do individuals and communities justly acquire shares of resources and land and what are the (grounds of the) limitations on these holdings? What consequences for current distributions of land and resources can be derived from the idea of original common ownership? The panel brings together three different perspectives – inspired by broadly Lockean, Grotian and Kantian frameworks respectively – on these questions in order to reflect on commonalities and differences. The papers not only explore specific questions of common ownership and just holdings, they also point to underlying views about the way in which individuals and communities relate to the physical world around them, and how this co-determines what we owe one another.

Title	Details
Special Relationships and the Ethics of Humanitarian Assistance	View Paper Details
Common ownership of the earth and the social contract: Mathias Risse vs. Hugo Grotius	View Paper Details
What Is a Just Distribution of Natural Resources? A Lockean Answer	View Paper Details
Theorizing from the Global Standpoint: Kant and Grotius on Original Common Possession of the Earth	View Paper Details