Private Property Argument Analysis

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Throughout our readings, we have been able to compare and contrast major arguments between the authors of each reading. One of such arguments was the place of private property. Aristotle, Plutarch, Locke, Madison, and Friedman all had some argument regarding this issue. Each author also somewhat explained how private property could relate to the ends of government. Each author has a different approach within this topic, but my plan is to try and connect the author’s opinions. First, we will look at Aristotle’s opinion on it. Aristotle believed in virtues, vices, and values. His classical virtues were courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, great-souledness, gentleness, and justice. According to Aristotle, problems that people associate …show more content…
As we have established in class, these papers were the staple of Western political thought and emphasized constitutional democracy and federalism. In Federalist #10, Madison stated that, “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires.” What this means is that there are two methods to cure the factions and they are by removing ones causes and controlling the effects of the other. He believed that liberty was essential and he also believed that the protection of property was the first object of government (Law). Madison stated that if an extended republic has economic, geographic, social, religious, and sectional interests, they should check each other to prevent a divide into the clash between the rich and the poor. This statement can easily compare to Lycurgus’s opinion between the rich and the poor. Both believed, to an extent, that there should be preemptive measures that restricted a divide between the rich and the poor, what Madison calls checks and balances. Madison believed that Justice was the end of government and it is also the end of civil society (Law). In his opinion, it will continue to be pursued until it has been “obtained or until liberty is lost in the …show more content…
He believed that the free society should be limited to maintaining law and order and preventing coercion towards one another (Friedman). He also focused on enforcing private property. Essentially what Friedman was saying was that the government of a liberal society should be enforcing law and order and private property rights. Ends always have to justify the means, or they are not considered ends to Friedman. In sum, Friedman’s ends of government include the preservation of law and order, to enforce private contracts, and to foster competitive markets. Ultimately competitive Capitalism separates economic power from political power and enables each to offset one another, is what James Madison wanted with the checks and balances system (Friedman). The market’s end should also boil down to one thing,

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