Contents 
Acknowledgments 
Cover Art Note 
Bibliographic Note 
Prologue 
PART I CLAIM AND TITLE: ORIGINS 
The Meaning of Property in Things 
Property Is a Universal and Uniquely Human Custom 
Humans Locate the Meaning of Property within a Thing 
All Animals Use Things, Specifically Food 
Food Is Unlikely to Be the Original Object of Property 
Tools Have Potential Because of How We Make and Use Them 
Symbolic Thought Makes Meaning Possible 
Meaning Makes Composite Tools Possible 
Primates Socially Transmit Tool Practices, but Humans share 
Meaning-Laden Customs 
Tool Use Is Embodied Knowledge 
Property Embodies the Claim “This Is Mine!” 
Humans Socially Transmit Property with Moral Force 
What Is Right Is Not Taken Out of the Rule, but Let the Rule 
Arise Out of What Is Right 
What Is Right Is Not Derived from the Rule 
But the Rule Arises from Our Knowledge of What Is Right 
Two Different Experiments Illustrate the Proposition 
Beginning with What Is Meant by “What Is Right” 
Resentment Prompts People to Act 
Property Emerges to Protect Us from Real and Positive Hurt 
The Custom of Property Is Physically Contained 
Etymology Evidences Both Custom and Containment 
A Linguistic Convention Emerges with the Tiny Word “In” 
The Semantics of “In a Thing” Physically Contain Property 
Eventually the Use of “Property in a Thing” Wanes 
But “I Have Property in X” Conveys Richer Meaning Than “X Is My 
Property” 
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