Johan Olsthoorn

KU Leuven, Institute of Philosophy/Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte, Post-Doc

Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), KU Leuven, Institute of Philosophy, Post-Doc

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I am an assistant professor in political theory (UD1) at the University of Amsterdam, Dept. of Political Science, and a senior postdoctoral research fellow of the Research Foundation (FWO)-Flanders at KU Leuven, Institute of Philosophy (2015-2021). Prior to this, I was a fellow in political theory at LSE, Department of Government (2014-15). In 2014 I received a PhD in from KU Leuven (summa cum laude).

My research specialisms are in early modern moral and political philosophy; contemporary theories of justice, rights, and property; and in international political theory and the ethics of war.

I hold degrees in Philosophy (BA, MA), History (BA, MA) and Political Science (BA) from Leiden University, and have been a visiting student/researcher at the Universities of Yale, Boston, Berkeley, Oxford, Paris-1-Sorbonne/Panthéon, British Columbia, Pompeu Fabra, and London (Queen Mary and King’s College).

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Macarena Marey

National Scientific and Technical Research Council

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University College Cork

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University of Hamburg

University of Oslo

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Two ways of theorizing collective ownership of the Earth

Forthcoming in: Property Theory: Legal and Political Perspectives, ed. James Penner and Michael Otsuka (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018)

Inspired by Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), Mathias Risse has recently argued forcefully that any prope... more Inspired by Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), Mathias Risse has recently argued forcefully that any property or territorial arrangement that fails to provide the global population with an equal opportunity to satisfy basic needs is unjust: it violates natural rights of common ownership. This chapter argues that Grotius and Risse theorize Collective Ownership of the Earth in rival ways. Risse develops a theory of justice: collective ownership of the Earth generates moral rights that restrain the acceptability of exclusionary regimes. Grotius, by contrast, advances a theory of property: what shape should we give to conventionally instituted individual property rights, given that the earth originally belongs to everyone? This chapter focuses on the right of necessity to illustrate the differences between these approaches. Grotius conceptualizes retained rights of common ownership, including rights of necessity, as partly definitive of individual property and territorial rights. These retained rights therefore bind each and every property-holder. Risse declares any pattern of holdings that fails to realize natural rights of common ownership 'unjust', while insisting that the duty to bring about just distributions is incumbent upon states alone. I conclude that Grotius's model resolves theoretically more parsimoniously the question of who are bound by the obligations corresponding to rights of common ownership.

Johan Olsthoorn

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