Philosophy in the Contemporary World

Volume 12, Issue 2, Summer 2005

The Ownership of Common Goods

Michael Monahan
Pages 17-21

Private Property and Public Interest

In this paper I explore the limitations of liberal political theory in relation to the notions of public property and public interest. I argue that the fundamentally atomistic and individualistic ontological foundations of the liberal tradition preclude any coherent notion of public goods and public interest.