Reflections an Property as a Social Good

In this reflection, Professor Gerhart relates the ideas of the symposium contributors to his goals in writing Property Law and Social Morality. In doing so, he reflects, in Part I, on his attempt to separate politics from private law property theory, and, in Part II, on how his framework theory provides a mechanism for integrating ideas about the content of legal doctrine from a wide variety of intellectual disciplines. In the first Part of his reflection, Professor Gerhart comments on the corrective justice/distributive justice distinction, related theories of human flourishing, and on rights theories. In the second Part of the reflection he comments on the theory of social recognition, the relationship between social values and the legal values, and the relationship between how we do act and how we should act.

He concludes by reflecting on the attributes of a theory that draws different viewpoints together rather than pitting one against another.