Self-ownership

Every political philosophy has to answer one question first: who has the right to decide what happens to your body and your life? Libertarians answer: you do. Everything else, from property to markets to the critique of the state, grows from that answer.

Who owns you?

There are only three possible answers to the question “who owns you?”.

1. You do. Each person is the owner of his or her own body.
2. Someone else does. Some people own others, fully or in part. That is slavery, whether the owner is a planter, a king or a committee.
3. Everyone owns everyone. Every person owns an equal share of everyone else. In practice this is impossible: no one could act without the permission of eight billion co-owners, so a smaller group always ends up deciding in their name.

Once the second and third options are spelled out, almost nobody defends them openly. Yet much of politics quietly assumes them. When a state conscripts young men, decides what you may put into your own body or takes part of every hour you work, it is acting as a part-owner of you.

What self-ownership is not

Self-ownership is not selfishness. It does not say you should care only about yourself. It says that your generosity, your work and your life are yours to give, not someone else’s to take. A person who spends every weekend volunteering is exercising self-ownership just as much as one who spends it fishing.

Nor does it say that every choice you make is wise. Owning yourself includes the right to make mistakes, and the responsibility to live with them. Others may advise you, warn you or refuse to deal with you. What they may not do is decide for you by force.

And it is not a privilege of the strong. Because every person owns themselves, the frail, the poor and the unpopular have exactly the same claim over their own lives as anyone else. That equality is the whole point.

Why accept it?

Libertarians defend self-ownership in several ways, and many find more than one convincing.

• Moral intuition. Almost everyone already believes that slavery, assault and rape are wrong. The simplest explanation is that each person is the rightful owner of their own body.
• The alternatives fail. Partial ownership by others needs a reason why some people should rule others, and no such reason holds up. Ownership by everyone cannot even be put into practice.
• Argumentation ethics. Hans-Hermann Hoppe points out that anyone who argues about ethics is already using persuasion instead of force and is treating the listener as the owner of their own mind. To argue against self-ownership, you have to rely on it.
• The golden rule. Treat others as you would want to be treated. Few people want others to decide over their body “for their own good”.

From your body to the world

Self-ownership does not stay inside your skin. When you mix your work with unowned land or turn raw materials into a tool, the result carries a piece of your time and effort. This is how John Locke, and later Murray Rothbard, explained where property comes from. If you own yourself, you also own what you peacefully make, find or receive. The details are in the guide on property rights.

It also tells you how to treat others. If each person owns themselves, then nobody may use another person’s body without consent. That rule has its own name and its own guide: the non-aggression principle.

Hard cases

Children

Children own themselves too, but they cannot yet exercise all their rights. Parents act as trustees. They may not abuse their children, and many libertarians argue that a child can leave the parents’ care once able to live independently.

Selling yourself

Can you sell yourself into slavery? Rothbard said no: your will cannot be handed over, so a promise to obey for ever cannot be enforced. You can promise work, but you can always walk away and pay damages. Some libertarians, such as Walter Block, disagree. The debate shows how seriously the idea is taken.

Your own body, your own risks

Self-ownership means adults decide what they eat, drink or smoke, which treatments they accept and which risks they run. Those who disagree are free to persuade, but not to forbid.

Common misunderstandings

• “It means you only care about yourself.” No. It protects your right to give, not a duty to keep.
• “It is just about drugs.” No. It is about everything you do with your life: work, faith, love, speech and the money you earn.
• “Nobody owns anybody, so the idea is empty.” Slavery, conscription and forced labor show that the question is very real.

Where to go next

• What follows for how we treat each other: the non-aggression principle.
• How self-ownership extends to things: property rights.
• How it fits the wider movement: what is libertarianism?