Self-Ownership

Self-ownership (or individual sovereignty or individual autonomy) is the concept, expressed as the moral or natural right, of a person to have bodily integrity, and be the exclusive controller of her or his own body and life.

John Locke wrote in his Two Treatises on Government, "every man has a Property in his own Person." Locke also said that the individual "has a right to decide what would become of himself and what he would do, and as having a right to reap the benefits of what he did."^[1][2]

Another philosopher, Josiah Warren, was the first to use the phrase the "sovereignty of the individual".^[3]

The phrase "individual sovereignty" can be a bit confusing since sovereignty is a notion from political science, and “self ownership” is much larger than any political concept. This means owning your thoughts, asking your own questions, coming up with your own answers, trusting others if they deserve it, owning your failures, and owning your successes.

This is a deep topic today but it is absolutely critical to modern survival living. If you are preparing to deal with our (modern technological) systems of support you must first remove the fear of their loss. Modern survivalists act in power, not in fear. We prepare (for disasters or economic collapse) in order to abolish fear, not to appease it. - Jack Spirko^[4][5]

Advocates of abortion rights tend to cast the debate in terms of self-ownership by focusing upon a "woman's right to control her own body" rather than the right of the unborn.

References[edit]

1. ↑ Olsaretti, Serena. 2004. Liberty, Desert and the Market. Cambridge University Press. p. 91
2. ↑ Dan-Cohen, Meir. 2002. Harmful Thoughts: Essays on Law, Self, and Morality. Princeton University Press. p. 296
3. ↑ http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/warren/WarrenManifesto/Pages/6.html
4. ↑ Episode 337 show notes
5. ↑ http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/pawn-to-personal-sovereignty