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Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
Property law only enhances powers you already have to protect your property. You can build walls, you can build fences, you can lock the gates even without government. Government adds to those existing powers by adding the force of the state.
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No. You're begging the question by presupposing that you already "own" the property in question. Without property law, you don't own anything.
*Anyone* can build walls or fences, not just the "owner." Anyone can build a fence anywhere and defend that property, regardless of who claims to own it or have bought it. Anyone can stand on any piece of land and shoot someone who comes too close.
There are no property rights in this system, you "own" something only to the extent you can defend it from others. Which is not ownership at all; it's mere possession. In this system, if I sell "my" land to you, your right to use the land exists only insofar as you can physically prevent someone else from occupying it. Meaning that you have no more rights than anyone else to the land.
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Intellectual property is fundamentally different. Without the government, you have no power to prevent someone from making a copy. You can lock a gate without government, but without government, you can't stop someone from looking at what you created, and making one of their own.
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I don't really disagree with this. My point is not that owning physical property is the same as owning intellectual property - there are significant differences. My point is only that property - all property - is not "natural," and only exists because of laws people made. Otherwise, it's just like a pack of wolves guarding their territory - they can hold it if they are able, but they don't have any particular "rights" in it.