What Is Property? · Chapter
§ 1 explained
Proudhon explores the causes of social disorder, arguing that property arises from the misuse of human reason and reflection, in contrast to the fixed instincts of animals.
What happens
Proudhon explores the causes of social disorder, arguing that property arises from the misuse of human reason and reflection, in contrast to the fixed instincts of animals. He posits that communism is the thesis, property the antithesis, and seeks a synthesis for true human association.
Themes in this chapter
Property as Theft
Proudhon frames property as born from selfishness and private opinion, laying groundwork for his critique.
Equality and Justice
The chapter emphasizes man's innate search for equality and justice, and the social disorder from their misapplication.
Sociability and Community
Discusses man's social instinct and the tension between individuality and community, using the bee analogy.
Characters to notice
- Pierre Joseph Proudhon
Author and primary voice, analyzing the origins of property and social mistakes.
- Napoleon
Quoted for his remark on reigning as being a proprietor à l'engrais.
- F. Cuvier
Cited for his distinction between instinct and intelligence in animals.
- Cato
Mentioned as an example of one who tore out his entrails to avoid enslavement.
- Socrates
Referenced as a martyr for liberty of thought.
Key passages
“Property, born of the reasoning faculty, intrenches itself behind comparisons. But, just as reflection and reason are subsequent to spontaneity, observation to sensation, and experience to instinct, so property is subsequent to communism.”
Property arises from human reasoning, but it appears later than communism, which is the natural, spontaneous state of society.
Proudhon establishes a developmental sequence from communism to property.
“Communism—the first expression of the social nature—is the first term of social development—the thesis ; property, the reverse of communism, is the second term—the antithesis . When we have discovered the third term, the synthesis , we shall have the required solution.”
Communism is the initial social form (thesis), property is its opposite (antithesis), and the goal is to find a synthesis that resolves the conflict.
Proudhon uses Hegelian dialectic to frame his argument for a new form of association.