Question about values

[John]

If I value something in nature such as oil and I obtain it without initiating force against others it is mine. How would I explain this to other rational people? What are the principles involved?

[oaktree]

If I value something in nature such as oil and I obtain it without initiating force against others it is mine. How would I explain this to other rational people? What are the principles involved?

Try to prove you do not use force.

You go to arabia and drill oil. Arab says it is his. He did not know it existed!

He draws knife.

You draw gun.

Common man says he defends his oil.

Prove you do not initiate force.

I know you do not.

[Living Student]

How do you explain it to yourself?

[stephen_speicher]

If I value something in nature such as oil and I obtain it without initiating force against others it is mine.  How would I explain this to other rational people?  What are the principles involved?

The most fundamental principle involved is the right to your own life. This means that you should be free to act in order to mainintain and sustain your life, as long as such actions do not violate the rights of others. (The only way that such rights can be violated is by the initiation of force.)

The right to property derives from this basic right to life, and it represents the physical form and expression of that right. Nature does not automatically provide to you what is needed to sustain your life, and it is only through your own mental and physical effort that you can survive and flourish.

As to physical property such as land, or the oil that you ask about, it is only by your actual effort that you can claim a right to it. You must cultivate the land or extract the oil, not just sit on a plot of land for decades and claim it as your own. You must produce some material value from that land, whether building a house, planting crops, or extracting oil. The land is not a value in and by itself; it is by your own effort that you produce the value that was otherwise just a potential.

You might want to read Ayn Rand's wonderful little compilation of essays in the book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. These essays will provide you with the full explanation and justification for the issue of rights and how they apply in a social context.