Concept of Ownership

[ll_billym]

This was mentioned on an episode of Big Bang Theory and I wanted to look into it more but cannot remember much about it.

It is a human condition, named after the person who described it, and essentially what is describes (I think) is a situation where somebody owns something but the greatest pleasure they get from owning it is simply the knowledge that it is not owned by anybody else.

Does anybody know anything about this or know the man who described it? Thanks.

[wildwood]

In the early years I had no choice but to buy a car on hire purchase. There was something very satisfying about making the final payment. Maybe the feeling you could now do what you wish with the object is the feeling of ownership.

By some unfortunate folks, ownership is fueled by jealousy and 'keeping up with the joneses'. Yet others, no doubt, enjoy the knowledge that it is not owned by anybody else.

I suspect there is also a primitive influence of owning things to impress a potential mate.

[shoota]

I used to help a friend by delivering high value pieces of art etc that had been bought at auction.
Several times I delivered to a man from the middle east, these pieces were museum quality artefacts, quite possibly unique in the world and were often extremely (millions) expensive.
It became clear to me that parcels I had delivered months before were left lying unopened on the floor in the 'office' of his home but yet he kept on buying with money being no object.
So whatever this condition is - he had it!

[heathfield]

It wasn't 'a man' who described it - there have been many, and they've written papers on the subject. Just do a search on Google for 'concept of ownership' to find many links on the subject.

[ll_billym]

Thanks for the answers! I have Googled that but cannot find the specific thing, it was definitely a specific person mentioned but maybe not that famous. I may have to re-watch the programme again to find out...

[Booldawg]

Ancient Egyptians were buried with their precious artefacts to take into the afterlife. I wonder if this is a display of the conditon?

[wolf63]

Have you checked out - John Locke's theory of ownership, Rawls theory of ownership and Karl Marx's theory of ownership?

and - http://the-big-bang-theory.com/