Every semester, I enjoy presenting the following scenario to my students:
You notice three children arguing with each other. Upon investigation, you find out that the children are in disagreement as to who is the rightful owner of a wooden flute. Seeing as you are the adult, the three children ask you to choose which of them should have the flute. The children then present their cases.
1) Child A argues that the flute belongs to him because he crafted it with his own two hands.
2) Child B argues that he is most suited to own the flute because he is the only one with musical talent and can thus make best use of it.
3) Child C argues that the flute should be his since he is dirt poor whereas the other two children are already very wealthy with many other toys.
Child B because he's the only one that can apparently do anything good with it
Charles Ortiz
Child a, all the other kids are gonna be chucks when they grow up.
Brandon Cox
a
Joshua Green
B should purchase the flute from A, and C should get a job.
Adrian Ortiz
Child A since he is responsible for its creation, if Child B wants it he can trade for it instead of being an entitled shit.
Carson Lee
something something acorns never actually give it to them something something
Jonathan Diaz
Child A
Owen Peterson
though personally b
Jace Clark
Child B will receive use of the flute in exchange for playing one request a week from Child A. Child C will be allowed to listen in, because a musician without an audience is less valuable than one with an audience.
Austin Morris
>he is the only one with musical talent child B
Mason Barnes
A
Anything else is theft
Jayden Cooper
A is the one who crafted it, of course it's his. He can do what he wants with it
Why is this even a discussion? It's his property
Michael Wood
/thread
Kayden Ross
>musical talent or level of wealth somehow trump property rights
Lol anyone saying anything but A is a fucking communist.
Alexander Moore
A, other two cunts can go fuck a cactus.
Jack Wood
Child A, faggot. Why even ask this?
Christopher King
Pretty much this. Everything else puts bullshit ideologies above the overall benefit of humanity.
Alexander Hughes
Break the damn thing and tell them all to grow up
Kevin Cooper
If any students claims they know what should be done, call them pseuds for trying to derive an is from an ought. But in reality let the kids figure it out for themselves, laissez faire.
Alexander Reyes
Just rape them with the flute and then keep it. They're fucking kids.
>They can all play on MY flute
Adam Diaz
It's A's flute, period. B can buy the flute off A. If C really wants it, he can go see if A offers special financing.
Camden Powell
D, I keep the flute for myself because I am stronger than all three combined and no one will ever believe them.
Child A made the damn thing, its his. That's how it works.
Nolan Harris
>unironically being this autistic
Jesus says communists need to learn how to fly.
Carter Cox
I take the flute.
Jason Hill
I'm curious how your students typically answer this question OP. How long have you been presenting it to classes? Have you seen any marked shifts in how classes answer over time? Personally I think B is an arrogant twat for thinking A can't possibly learn how to play a fucking flute.
Justin Davis
hahah I saw this - It was probably OP jizzing on them.
Nathan Watson
Noice
Adrian Nguyen
So child A should grow up because the other two shits were being entitled?
Congratulations on being intellectually and morally defunct.
C. The nigger is entitled to it for growing up in a country dictated by white supremacy.
Jacob Jackson
Brake the flute into three equal pieces and give each child one
Elijah Foster
Great thread. Sage.
Matthew Hernandez
I would ask A if he could make 2 more flutes so they can all have one.
Chase Long
And how about I kept it? It's not like those children know how to sell a flute.
Matthew Morgan
I'm puzzled how anyone would answer anything but A. The kid made the flute. Maybe he's not good at it now but wants to practice and get better and had enough skill to make one. Child B is an arrogant prick that things should be given to them because they claim they deserve it.
Child C is a nigger, if not in skin color then at heart
Josiah Hernandez
Best answer from a leaf. Well done.
Kevin Bell
Option 4) >keep the damn flute for myself.
All the other options sound like entitled little shits anyway.
Joshua Campbell
Anyone who answers other than A should be gassed.
Matthew Cooper
Cut it into thirds
Dominic Powell
whoever brings me the most acorns...eventually...
Noah Price
The flute is mine because I am big.
Leo Phillips
give? you mean take from and then give to either that doesnt own?
it already belongs to one
what kind of stupid post is this
Jackson Smith
my thoughts exactly
Ryder Clark
Child A because he made it. I would do better things with most people's money than they would but that does not mean I am entitled to their money. Child C can fuck off and stop playing the victim
Brody Baker
no forget about the flute
cut all of the children into thirds
make flutes from them
Xavier Evans
it's A
Jace Thompson
Fuck the kids, that's my flute now.
But seriously if I was to say anything different from A, I'd keep the flute and tell the boy to teach them how to make their own flutes. Then I'd return the flute after they had made their own flutes.
Daniel Bennett
The most prominent thing I've noticed is that about 3/4 of those who choose C are females.
Brody Myers
Child A crafted the flute, as such it is the property of child A. There's no such thing as "deserve".
If child B wants a flute, he should get child A to craft him one. Same for child C. Consumers are always at the mercy of Creators.
Andrew Baker
A obviously.
unless he was paid or forced to craft it. i make things at my job but i by no means own it.
Cameron Davis
>own two hands did he? Where did the wood come from, did it grow out of his hand? Did he use his own fingernails to make the holes?
That flute was made out of the peoples tree, and when child A was constructing it, he breathed the peoples air. He ate the peoples food to give him strenght.
He needs recognition for his craftsmanship, and depending on circumstance he may well be the best one to have control of the flute, but to say he owns the flute is a bit silly, ownership is not real.
Grayson Evans
gas the thots, sex wars NOW!
Bentley Perry
A obviously, they made it they own it.
If B or C wants it they can offer A something in exchange, money, labor, etc.
How the fuck is this even a question?
Christian Mitchell
A is superior to B because crafting in itself is credible like being able to play a musical instrument, but also has the edge of honoring property rights. C can fuck off and go earn something.
Kayden Jenkins
if its no different to you i'd like to step on your fucking face with my fists
Joshua Gomez
Dear God.
Dylan Allen
A deceptively simple question. We need to ask the following questions to be sure of our answer:
1. Under what conditions was the flute created? Are there any outstanding debts that need to be repaid, i.e., did someone else commission the flute? Where did the raw materials come from? Who taught Child A how to craft the flute, and under what circumstances? 2. Has the flute transferred ownership from the time of its creation to the current situation? If so, was this transfer of ownership legitimate (i.e., by the consent of the initial owner) or illegitimate? 3. (Most importantly) Who am I to arbitrate the children's ownership rights? If I am not around, who wins? What do I get by arbitrating their property rights?
If Child A is operating as an agent in producing the flute, then his ownership of the flute rightfully belongs to whoever commissioned it. If Child A sold the flute and is now asserting property rights because he made the flute, then whoever he sold it to rightfully owns the flute. If Child A made the flute from Child C's raw materials without Child C's consent, then giving Child A the flute is merely solidifying an unjust claim, and giving Child C the flute would be just compensation for his trouble.
If Child C is stronger than the other children and my will is imposed upon them by virtue of my being an adult, who is naturally larger and stronger because of my age, then am I really imposing a new structure on the children, or am I simply strengthening a status quo built on the rule of the strong? If I make a ruling that 2/3 children consider unfair, will they accept the ruling, or subvert it as soon as I leave?
Ultimately, property rights are socially constructed. There's no metaphysical quality that determines ownership; exclusive claims are constructed so as to avoid competing claims that are clearer and more compelling than this. The children need to accept property norms of their own devising, and be forced to apply their own reasoning universally.
Jonathan King
For once a leaf with a good response.
Michael Anderson
Clearly C.
Aaron Miller
>ownership is not real.
How about you come over to my house and tell me about how I don't own my 12 gauge?
Thomas Harris
Really activates my almonds
Blake Gomez
Make that argument to my face, and see wot comes of it m8.
Carter Foster
>walking on your hands as expected by primitive primates :^)
lolbertarians are idiots who never account for the fact that literally everything is already 'owned'. and ownership is apparently a sacred principal to them.
So tell me, what is produced only by ones own two hands? Nothing. The concept of ownership means you can not produce anything whos value is only imparted to it by labor.
You can either claim property doesn't exist, in which case labor becomes the only thing that imparts value, or you have to admit that you are not entitled to your labor. One or the other.
Aiden Rogers
>Seeing as you are the adult Adults know they are opening themselves up to litigation if they interfere in a situation like this, the most realistic thing to do is to leave them alone or call the police. Either way, the kids could easily lie to you, so you keep the flute until their parents show up. The one who comes to you complaining about their kids flute is probably the owner.
John Moore
child A if child B wants it he can buy it
Parker Brown
>Even as children, women instinctively make choices that would collapse a society >Sup Forums was right again
Landon Thomas
my hands will produce pain for your face
Brayden Butler
A remix of this: B buys from A, and C learns off of A.
Justin Garcia
A should gift it to B, and theyll become best friends from then one, picking on C together for being poor and talentless
Noah Collins
Until, of course, Child B or C decides that the cost of gathering additional acorns is not worth the flute, at which point he stops and the other one gets it.
Nathan Martin
kys commie
Benjamin King
how do you craft a flute only using your hands? the least he would need a small pointy rock to make the holes
i call Child A a lier
James Wood
cage match, might makes right.
Angel Martinez
This should only be encouraged to happen organically as a deal, ie business arrangement and not forces by the state. Also, it would be ok if b then wanted to 'charge' (in some sense) c for the opportunity to listen in
Colton Wood
/thread
Eli Parker
>literally can not respond to a simple argument laughing stocks
Austin Gray
Keep it for yourself and chastise them for relying on an outside party to resolve their issues.
Jaxson Price
^This. Unless you can be 100% sure child A is being truthful. If HE is, it belongs to him.
Samuel Davis
Fuck flutes
Andrew Bennett
alternatively child A and child C make a contract and put child B in a camp, it's clear child B is of semitic origin.
Hudson Murphy
How many kids recognized the taste?
Nathaniel Nelson
Did I hurt the fee-fees of the only sentimentalist in the thread?
There are good property norms and bad property norms. Those that affirm the acquisitive nature of humanity and interpret those urges reasonably are bound to prosper; those that succumb to equity on one hand or kratocracy on the other are bound to lead to suffering beyond measure.
But that's not my monkey, not my rodeo. Have fun with your every-man-an-island mentality.
Nolan Cooper
A should rent it out to B. B can play it in the public square and earn money.
A will make enough money to make more flutes. B will eventually be able to purchase his own flute from A.
C should just STFU and pay attention because this is how commerce works. Maybe if C is a jew he can cook the books for A and B for tax purposes.
Colton Powell
A because property rights you dumb mutt
Adam Hill
Option Z, i tell c nigger "in private" to try out some crack from the local dealer, and to tell the "deala" i sent him, and if he does this than he can have the flute.
Of course there's a finders fee for new addicts, alongside a bonus for children....
Dominic Jackson
Person A crafts a pot out of clay. Person B steals this pot from person A, then B sells it to C at a discount. C legitimately purchased it, but it was stolen, unbeknownst to C. Who's pot is it?
Jonathan Perez
Is this a doll?
Brandon Williams
Leave it to a pole to try and derive property norms from god.
Cooper Robinson
...
Gabriel Adams
Fucking child A . B and C are chosen by. She retards. If B feels like it's suited for him he should offer child A money or exchange of goods. With profit chikd A could craft more flutes to sell. Child C can go collect cans until he had enough money to by a flute himself.
Xavier Long
Everything belong to the best flute player. I am the best flute player t. Aristotle
Cooper Price
OP here, the correct answer is:
I make all three play my flute, and whoever does the best job gets to keep the wooden one.
But seriously, WTF does this have to do with Sup Forums?
Sage
Jose Barnes
At that point it is C's. That's why you need to report anything stolen right away.
Charles Carter
Simple, I tell the children I'll break the flute into 3 pieces, each of which will be given to one of the children.
Child C would be petty and think this is fair. Child B might go either way. And Child A, because the flute is his creation and his own child, would ask me not to break it, and instead give it to any of the other children.
I would give the flute to whoever is the most selfless.
JK, fuck that, I would give it to Child A in a heartbeat.
Liam Lewis
You just showed your political alignment. That's why it's on pol.
You seized the Good from the person that made it and gave it to who you qualified as the new owner.