I thought BHL readers might be interested to learn about two cool new companion papers arguing against the Self-Ownership Thesis (SO) written by philosopher David Sobel. Sobel argues that SO is implausible because it cannot differentiate between normatively significant and normatively insignificant impingements on other people’s bodies. In other words, SO draws the [...]

In this post, I will introduce various forms of the self-ownership thesis, the claim that persons are sole and extensive owners of themselves and the fruits of their labors. In academic philosophy, libertarianism is almost defined by endorsing the self-ownership thesis. It is what unites philosophical left-libertarians and philosophical right-libertarians. But the self-ownership thesis can [...]