Each spring, we do a smaller course at the William and Mary Law School (known as a "Directed Reading") that focuses on some interesting property issue. The class reads a book and uses it as a springboard for discussion.
No exam, no paper, just an exploration of the issues as a way about thinking about property more deeply. The format is kind of like a property nerd book club. Read a chapter, discuss; etc. Our Spring 2020 book was Sean Wilentz's "No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation's Founding," and the 2019 book was Howard Mansfield's "The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down: Our Belief in Property and the Cost of That Belief."
This upcoming semester we're reading Professor Bart Wilson's newly-published "The Property Species - Mine, Yours, and Human Mind."
What is property, and why does our species have it? In The Property Species, Bart J. Wilson explores how humans acquire, perceive, and know the custom of property, and why this might be relevant to understanding how property works in the twenty-first century.
Arguing that neither the sciences nor the humanities synthesizes a full account of property, the book offers a cross-disciplinary compromise that is sure to be controversial: Property is a universal and uniquely human custom. Integrating cognitive linguistics with philosophy of property and a fresh look at property disputes in the common law, the book makes the case that symbolic-thinking humans locate the meaning of property within a thing. That is, all human beings and only human beings have property in things, and at its core, property rests on custom, not rights. Such an alternative to conventional thinking contends that the origins of property lie not in food, mates, territory, or land, but in the very human act of creating, with symbolic thought, something new that did not previously exist.
Written by an economist who marvels at the natural history of humankind, the book is essential reading for experts and any reader who has wondered why people claim things as "Mine!", and what that means for our humanity.Here's what is going to be different about the Spring 2021 class: we're 100% remote (Zoom!). Which means that in addition to the limited number of students who can register for credit, we're opening up the sessions to anyone interested in joining us. This includes students, lawyers, professors, whomever might be interested in reading the book with us, and in respectful discussion. No credit, but no pressure either.If you are interested in joining us, let us know. Then, we'll all obtain our copies of the book, and read it chapter-by-chapter, while scheduling 1-to-one-and-a-half hour Zoom discussions (lead -- or more accurately -- prompted) by Yours Truly. While we wish we didn't have to do this remotely, it does give us the opportunity to open up examination of the issues raised by the book to a wider audience.Intrigued? Come, join us!
