ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the possibility of justifying the positive principle on the grounds of self-ownership. It discusses the negative principle by which P originally acquires X if the appropriation respects a certain condition. The possibility of incorporating such a proviso in a libertarian argument has been challenged by some critics. The chapter shows that a proviso of this sort is not incompatible with libertarianism. It also discusses the several interpretations such a proviso can take on various dimensions, suggesting that the multiplicity itself is a source of vulnerability for any negative theory of appropriation. The chapter focuses on an issue which is shared by both the positive and negative principle of just appropriation. It concerns the initial moral status of the world, that is, its status prior to private appropriation. There is no act the performance of which transfers one's moral status as self-owner to some natural resources thereby morally requiring the recognition of property rights in these natural resources.
