What Is Property? A Historical Abstract Idea

Property in the legal sense is what belongs to, with or for something, whatever is immovable in relation to the rest of the universe. It includes real property, but also includes things like money and goods, and even certain types of intangible property rights, like proprietary rights. But property can be movable as well, so it can include things like houses and cars. When people refer to property, they almost always mean real property. Real property includes structures like buildings and houses, land (land and buildings), and resources like water and minerals.

The legal concept of property is complex, so most people just lump all of their various ownership rights together under one umbrella term, “property.” However, this term can actually be divided further. Under popular usage, property is understood as land that someone owns. However, most people also think of it as personal property, since most modern individuals own at least some property that they use for their private purposes.

People’s confusion about property can be traced back to the idea that property is an abstract idea. People are supposed to have a clear idea of what property actually is, so they are not confused. But this is not the case. For example, in common language, it would be impossible for you to understand the concept of property without having ever seen a piece of property yourself. On the other hand, you can easily confuse your ideas of property with abstract notions like money, time, labor, and other concepts that people have, even if they never have actually thought about them in any physical form. So, if you ever need to buy a car or a house, try to mentally picture the process rather than talking about it in terms of properties.

Another problem that arises from confusion regarding property is that property becomes an entity unto itself. Once people start talking about it as an entity, it makes it seem more important and meaningful than it really is. In short, people begin to place a valuation on their property and assign a price for it based on its usefulness and its suitability to particular purposes. Unfortunately, nobody has ever come up with a theory that would explain how property came to be an abstract idea in the first place.

The only theory that seems to make sense in this regard is the one that says that property is a precise combination of individuals that come together and are held together by the legal institution under whose possession they are located. This explains why property exists, and why it should be valuable. It also explains why some people want to grab it for themselves and make their own abstract property. After all, no one is allowed to do that unless he owns the land that the property is built on. Everybody has the right to enjoy the fruits of his own labor, so why not maximize that value?

Of course, this all makes perfect sense from a metaphysical point of view. However, in practical life, many people seem to be confused about property. To them, property appears to be something that is difficult to define, because it doesn’t have a definite physical shape or size, and as such it is open to interpretation. It is taken as given that it is there to serve some function, and yet nobody knows what that function is or how to capture it with a net profit.