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The Ethics of Countering the Private Counterfeiter: Rejoinder to Block
Author(s) -
Davidson Laura
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2010.00746.x
Subject(s) - counterfeit , deception , property (philosophy) , interpretation (philosophy) , business , law and economics , block (permutation group theory) , law , commerce , computer security , economics , political science , philosophy , computer science , epistemology , geometry , mathematics , linguistics
A bstract Counterfeiting is, and should be, a crime. It involves theft by deception, and the stealing of goods or other valuables using false claims to money. But what about counterfeiting money that is already counterfeit? In Block's interpretation, such an action amounts to seizing stolen goods from a thief. Counterfeiting simply relieves the original counterfeiter of his ill gotten gains and is therefore not theft itself. The present article offers a critique of this thesis of Block's on the basis that counterfeiting money involves the theft of property from innocent people.