ABSTRACT
Given the revival of interest in Thomistic property thinking within the ‘progressive property’ school of thought, this chapter offers a fuller exploration of Aquinas’ complex work on private possession of external things. It aims to serve as a primer for property scholars who may be interested in using Thomistic property thinking to develop theoretical approaches to property. The chapter considers on the one hand, the potential that Aquinas’ thinking has as a source of normative inspiration for solving current-day property problems and developing progressive property theory, and on the other hand, the risks that are presented by cross-fertilisation between scholarly approaches to property developed in radically different contexts. It argues that while there is significant methodological and substantive alignment between progressive property and Thomistic thinking on property, the latter’s non-secular foundations, as well as its narrow focus on human survival, pose challenges for its direct use in contemporary property problem-solving.
Walsh, Rachael, Progressive Property’s Thomistic Turn: Connecting Human Sustenance and Human Flourishing (May 7, 2024) in Research Handbook on Property, Law and Theory, Chris Bevan ed (Edward Elgar, forthcoming August 2024).
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