Folke Schuppert presents a working paper on 'Property. Idea- and Sociohistorical Perspectives on a Legal Institution'

When dealing with the phenomenon that is usually called “property”, it quickly becomes clear that it – while often being seen in terms of economic and legal reasonings – cannot be analysed but in a multidisciplinary way. The explanation and legitimation of property can and must then also be understood from the perspectives – and in the “languages” – of such fields as morals, ethics, political philosophy and social theory. This leads to speaking about property in terms of varying “images” of society, humans and the world (Weltbilder), i. e. the analysis has to reflect about different relational fields, in which relations among humans and of humans with the world (Eigentum als Weltbeziehung) are constituted. Property can thus be framed as part of the institutional ordering of the world in different “languages” (legal, political, theological, …). These languages and their perspectives help to create a place in this world (making sense of and in it/having a share in it), but also make it possible to potentially shield oneself from the world (the division of public and private sphere).