What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government, credited to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Translated by Benjamin R. Tucker. Read in English by Deborah Brabyn; Lynne Thompson; Capybara; Mike; Lucretia B.; Anna Simon; Tim Makarios; Guero; Mary Schneider; Saab; Julia Niedermaier; Diana Majlinger; Elin; Chris Clark; KHand; EccentricOwl; Teddy What Is Property?: or, An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government (French: Qu'est-ce que la propriété ? ou Recherche sur le principe du Droit et du Gouvernment) is an influential work of nonfiction on the concept of property and its relation to anarchist philosophy by the French anarchist and mutualist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, first published in 1840. In the book, Proudhon most famously declared that “property is theft”. Proudhon believed that the common conception of property conflated two distinct components which, once identified, demonstrated the difference between property used to further tyranny and property used to protect liberty. He argued that the result of an individual's labor which is currently occupied or used is a legitimate form of property. Thus, he opposed unused land being regarded as property, believing that land can only be rightfully possessed by use or occupation (which he called "possession"). As an extension of his belief that legitimate property (possession) was the result of labor and occupation, he argued against such institutions as interest on loans and rent.

Recording facts

• Recording title: What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government
• Author credits: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 33
• Listed recording duration: 17:29:41

Catalogue topics

• economics
• anarchy
• anarchist theory
• sociology
• social sciences

Opening tracks: first 24 of 33

1. 01 - PJ Proudhon, his life and works, Part 1 — 34:48
2. 02 - PJ Proudhon, his life and works, Part 2 — 35:54
3. 03 - Preface — 31:52
4. 04 - Chapter One, Part 1 — 38:55
5. 05 - Chapter One, Part 2 — 37:32
6. 06 - Chapter Two, Part 1 — 24:54
7. 07 - Chapter Two, Part 2 — 37:01
8. 08 - Chapter Two, Part 3 — 33:57
9. 09 - Chapter Three, Part 1 — 22:27
10. 10 - Chapter Three, Part 2 — 34:34
11. 11 - Chapter Three, Part 3 — 41:30
12. 12 - Chapter Three, Part 4 — 50:10
13. 13 - Chapter Four, Part 1 — 45:16
14. 14 - Chapter Four, Part 2 — 22:23
15. 15 - Chapter Four, Part 3 — 27:11
16. 16 - Chapter Four, Part 4 — 22:55
17. 17 - Chapter Four, Part 5 — 34:09
18. 18 - Chapter Five, Part 1 — 30:18
19. 19 - Chapter Five, Part 2 — 26:01
20. 20 - Chapter Five, Part 3 — 16:48
21. 21 - Chapter Five, Part 4 — 42:00
22. 22 - Chapter Five, Part 5 — 19:48
23. 23 - Second Memoir, Part 1 — 28:53
24. 24 - Second Memoir, Part 2 — 32:36

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.