Abstract

Misunderstanding of the word mine and its shifting relations to 'pro-attitudes' inspired much of Aristotle's attack on collectivism at Politics 1261B 15ff. Similar misunderstandings contribute to certain criticisms leveled by modern conservatives like Goldwater against 'welfarism', they presuppose confused psychological and ethical doctrines. Thus semantically necessary truths may be misconstrued as entailing contingent propositions about political and economic arrangements. Different confusions about mine and 'pro-attitudes' lend a correspondingly specious aura of certainty to some Platonic and Marxist claims. The ownership model of mine impedes our understanding of men.