Philosophy: What is Property Disobedience?

Join the Department of Philosophy for the lecture by William Scheuerman, James H. Rudy Professor of Philosophy at Indiana (Bloomington).

Many recent cases of politically motivated lawbreaking include instances of property damage and/or destruction (e.g., political “vandalism,” “looting,” sabotage, etc.). Yet most scholarship fails to capture key empirical distinctions or identify the resulting normative-political challenges. My aim is to sketch a more nuanced, empirically useful account of politically motivated property damage’s various forms. I address key political-theoretical and social-philosophical questions, most importantly: when and why should specific political acts resulting in property damage be viewed as having, in principle, some potentially “acceptable” normative and political status? To do so, I explore some closely related questions. When, if ever, does it make sense to describe political property damage as “violent”? What might our answer to that question entail for those committed to political nonviolence? How might different views of property help us make sense not only of political property damage’s types, but also how to evaluate, as a normative-political matter, their possible merits and demerits?