Self-ownership (or individual sovereignty) is the condition where an individual has the exclusive moral right to control his or her own body and life. The writers William Rees-Mogg and James Dale Davidson described this condition as being a sovereign individual, in which an individual has supreme authority and sovereignty over their own choices, without the interference of governing powers. This notion is central to individualistic political philosophies such as abolitionism, ethical egoism, anarchism, classical liberalism and libertarianism. Those who support the product of labor as private property often premise their position on self-ownership, reasoning that if an individual owns himself then he personally owns his labor and the resulting products. Sovereign individuals hold to the premise that government only has authority and power which is given to it by the individual, with decentralized administrative organizations acting as their servants and not their master.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is sometimes viewed as an implementation of the concept of self-ownership, as are some portions of the Bill of Rights.

The trouble of defining the border of the self can be seen in the debate surrounding abortion, where the right of the woman to control her own body can be in opposition to what may be considered as "the fetus' right to live". This contrast is even more pronounced in situations where women are forced to undergo surgery in order to deliver a healthy baby. However even though self-ownership advocates civil rights, it does not extend these rights over others, which is exactly the pro-life campaigners issue with abortion.

In addition to the abortion debate, there are also debates surrounding euthanasia and suicide. However, some of these actions can be viewed as self-destructive which is somewhat removed from the original meaning of self-ownership, as this also meant taking responsibility for self.

Defining the borders of the self can also be difficult if one accepts the notion that the self includes objects that are external to the human body, as is proposed in Andy Clark's essay, Natural Born Cyborgs.

Self-ownership could be viewed as a decentralized bottom-up philosophy, as opposed to totalitarianism being a centralized top-down system. Henry David Thoreau regarded self-ownership as a key component in achieving utopia, while Robert Nozick, an influential political philosopher, based his theory of property-ownership on the premise of self-owenership.

It has been argued by Hans-Hermann Hoppe that self-ownership is axiomatic. His reasoning is that a person contradicts themselves when they argue against self-ownership because an individual must presuppose ownership of himself when he attempts to refute the position. Terrell, Timothy D. Property Rights and Externality: The Ethics of the Austrian School. Journal of Markets & Morality, Volume 2, Number 2 • Fall 1999

See also

• Non-aggression principle
• Civil liberties
• Empowerment
• Free will
• Individualism
• Individualist anarchism
• Libertarianism
• Non-aggression axiom
• Perpetual traveler
• Tax resistance

Notes and References

External links

• Self-Ownership - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• The Philosophy of Liberty, an animated production, derives a libertarian philosophy from the principle of self-ownership.
• The Ego and Its Own, also translated as "The Individual and His Property," is the main work by German philosopher Max Stirner, published in 1844. In short, the book portrays the life of a human individual as dominated by authoritarian concepts ('fixed ideas' or 'spooks'), which must be shaken and undermined by each individual's self-interest in order for her to act freely. These include primarily religion and ideology, and the institutions claiming authority over the individual.
• Manifesto by Josiah Warren Classic treatise on individual sovereignty by the first American anarchist
• What is a sovereign individual?

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