Page - 140 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

140 REfLECTIvE COsMOPOLITANIsM Yes No Maybe Myself A house The street that I use to go to school The sea A portion of the sea coast A mountain A city A city park My body My boy/girlfriend A car A bus The earth deep below the surface The seaside Parents A book A cultivated field A meadow A job A son/daughter Leading Idea 4: Property/Ownership/Belonging The issue of property can be engaged with from a different perspective by focusing not on the ownership of “things,” but rather on the relationships that exist between property and people. Of course, property of people automatically makes us think of slavery. While it is important to know that slavery currently exists in many parts of the world in various itera- tions, this is not the kind of property ownership being referred to. Property ownership of another kind is worth our attention. We can consider what “belonging to oneself” means and reflect on the questions that this gives rise to. In what sense, if any, can I consider myself to be the owner of myself? And, if I am the owner of myself, should I consider all the people who are in some way part of my life to be my property? For example, in Italian law, people come of age when they are 18. Does this mean that until then, parents are the owners of their children? What are the limits that define the right of a parent over his or her child? We often speak of people as ‘ours’, that is, using the possessive adjective: my son, my brother, my friend. We mean that they belong to the sphere of our family or friends. Young Neapolitans often define themselves as belonging to their family group (even in a very wide sense) or to the neighbourhood where they live. However, there is a difference between property and belonging. It is important to reflect upon the difference between “belonging” in the sense of possession and in that of “social and/or emotional bond”. Is there any connection between these two concepts?