The Palmer Reading Seminar Paper:

In his article, Palmer (1990) presents the labor desert theory as a theory where the property is looked at as the just reward for labor. He argues that the theory very well supports intellectual property rights, as opposed to the theory where the property presented as the concentration of liberty cannot. The author argues that opposed to the moral desert, or utility maximization, or how omnipresent scarcity may be, the labor desert theory is a personality-based rights theory that starts with the theory of personality. He explains the moral desert as well as other moral theories as being one of the approaches that can be used in providing a foundation for more expansive forms of intellectual property rights (Palmer). That there are those accounts that can indeed be considered one moral desert argument for property rights, the ones containing a consequentialist element, where property gets to be justified due to the necessity behind the means of attaining the natural end of a man.

Palmer argues that people ownership rights in itself is based on their freedom, and is indeed synonymous, and cannot always rest on labor-based moral theory, as they are not necessarily the products of their labor. As a result, the author complements property rights is explaining how it’s in people as well as being in material, alienable objects that allow people to be corporate in a peaceful way. That through the allocation of resources via a property system, agents can better negotiate without resorting to force as a way of deciding among the various conflicting resources (Palmer). However, he also criticizes property rights by clarifying on how property rights do not achieve the task of maximizing some maximand, although it indeed allows people to corporate as far as resource allocation is concerned.

References

Palmer, Tom G. “Are Patents And Copyrights Morally Justified? The Philosophy Of Property Rights And Ideal Objects.” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 13.3 (1990). Web., 2 June, 2020. <http://tomgpalmer.com/wp-content/uploads/papers/morallyjustified.pdf>.