Should Surfers Own the Fruits of Paradise?

Should society feed surfers or should assistance be conditioned to reasonable efforts to contribute? Basic income has been justified by numerous writers from the right to an equal share of external resources. However, Rawls famously argued that surfers should feed themselves. In Why Surfers Should be Fed, Van Parijs gives a sophisticated justification for the reciprocity objection. This article argues that the right to an equal share of external resources cannot refer to abusus (the right to cede) and should refer to the right to exploit (usus) rather than the right to the proceeds (fructus). Consequently, the right to an unconditional basic income does not necessarily derive from the common ownership of external resources. Also, in some sense, a market economy that follows Justice as Fairness principles as defined by Rawls can be defended from an equality of usus perspective.