Hans-Hermann Hoppe on private property

Because the concept of property, for instance, is so basic that everyone seems to have some immediate understanding of it, most people never think about it carefully and can, as a consequence, produce at best a very vague definition.  But starting from imprecisely stated or assumed definitions and building a complex network of thought upon them can lead only to intellectual disaster.  For the original imprecisions and loopholes will then pervade and distort everything derived from them.  To avoid this, the concept of property must first be clarified. 

~ Hans-Hermann Hoppe, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (1989)