Depends on your definition of "own" when it comes to people. In a free society no one can own you. Not religion, not government not any you-name-it. As to owning yourself, the complete answer to that is too long to go into here. Let me just indicate that you should be able to answer the following questions and still correspond to objectivism:
Can you define Man? (Metaphysics). How does Man learn and deal with information? (epistemology). How does he deal with other humans? (ethics) How does he organize his relationship with other humans? (politics). How does he express beauty? (art). Answer those and you'll not only answer your "ownership" question, but it will put your big toe into the vast pool of what it is to be a human.

So "morally" my choice is to own or be owned?

+1 I agree. They do not "own" you in any sense.

They sold their work output, not their being.

I agree with you and Salty. There are various ways to define the verb "to own" specially as it pertains to oneself.

W hat we do need is an agreed upon definition of "self" and "own"

I think the bottom line here is yes, we all have our responsibilities, rights and privilages, however we don't have to do them. We don't have to pay for anything, we don't have to take care of ourselves or our families. We still have free will. That choice that free will cannot be taken. That choice is in my opinion proof of our self ownership, despite oppression, responsibilities and life choices like careers or to whom we marry.

If no one owns a person, than they are free resources. I would have to go and harvest a few. "
That is precisely how Marx, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Obama, Chavez, et alia looked at people i.e. as animals to be controlled and destroyed as it pleased them to do so.

Ownership of humans is the result of the majority of humans having a very low IQ and therefore never realize that they are owned by someone with a higher IQ than they have. The only way not to be owned is to have a sufficiently high IQ that you avoid having someone else control you as a slave.

If I contract with a publisher to write a book, I am trading my work output for their money. I'm not selling myself per se. Ownership of my being would not seem to have any part in the transaction.

I am and have been a very active person most of my life. A few years ago I had gotten into Sprint car mechanics. I loved going all over the state and working on these cars. It caused major problems at home. I was working full time and at the track when I wasn't working. My mom in her infinite wisdom told me that I am married and that meant my husband and children owned me. She said I needed to get cable and stay home all the time unless I was working or with my family. I came home and told my husband I wanted a divorce. We worked through it and I did quit racing, but I cannot be or feel owned. It is not in me.

The real question is price. Are you cheaper than a congressman?

If no one owns a person, than they are free resources. I would have to go and harvest a few.

Ones body is the vessel to carry one through life. Clearly slavery is wrong, so another person should not own a person. I would expand this to include the government. It could be argued that parents own a child until maturity, but clearly not into adulthood, or even further, after the parents' death. God owns me leads to what god and is there a god. What if you (like me) don't believe in one at all?

This comes down to who makes decisions about a person, and that is the person. Therefore, a person owns themselves, because they make all the decisions regarding there self, and "yes" ownership is required because they must also maintain themselves and feed themselves, or they can waste themselves and die. No other entity can do this ethically without cause.

I don't even see a foothold for another proper view.

Only you control your mind and body. If your body is incarcerated, is it god, your parents, your government or you that primarily suffers? Without the concept of self-ownership, there is no such thing as personal or property rights. Without personal or property rights, there can be no meaningful concept of crime.

Having to pay your taxes or follow other rules (rational or not) does not negate the fact that you own your own life in principle. It is the same as having rights despite govt. or others interfering with them. There is a difference between moral ownership/rights and political ones. We simply need to fight against the political ones to preserve the moral ones.

Actually yes, several thousand yeas ago, people sold themselves into "voluntary servitude." Sometimes this was done in repayment for a debt, or servitude for the promise of something, i.e. I will be your slave for 5 years in exchange for "x" piece of land or your daughter's hand in marriage...


Someone who stole from someone and was proven would have to repay the debt and also serve as slave for a number of years as a form of punishment.

Jews has slavery of all sorts, and every 7 years the "Jubilee" year all slaves were summarily set free, although some sold themselves right back into slavery for another 7 years.

Slavery in ancient times could be both good and bad depending on the circumstances.

"We The People" are supposed to own the government.
These days people who make statements like that are looked upon as deluded fools as if the statement was ""We The People" own the government." The "supposed" left out.
I can just see the Great And Powerful O looking down his nose at me with that huge toothy grin of his.
Fine, when do I get audited?

Humans by nature of inheriting the sovereignty of consciousness willingly are rightfully owners of self.
In a sense, just every cell in your body is solely responsible for it's own survival, that community of cells plus an individual identity of mind is in fact 'Self Interest'...rationally speaking.

Well some tongue in cheek, but I do know people like that and from my observation, their minds are blanked. It's how they've chosen to live and to me that defines relinquishing sentience.

I think you're saying that tongue-in-cheek, meaning you think working at an assembly job and watching TV would be loathsome for you. You don't literally mean choosing a certain job and recreation means abdicating human rights.

I suspect that some people like having a "stable" job. I have heard people say they want to be told where to go to work, to have a somewhat-stable paycheck, and not to have to worry about anything beyond one job function. Someone told me, "I like being a cog." I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Some business (hopefully) makes a profit from the "cog" and the "cog" gets to go home to his family and not worry about running the business.

Many do by going to work in the morning to an assembly line, then coming home to watch TV before going to bed and doing the same thing every day thereafter.

Think of ownership in terms of responsibility.
To say "I own myself" means it is my responsibility to provide for myself, to maintain good health, to not harm others, to keep the product of my efforts, etc.

We use "owner" as a shorthand for that whole concept, not really meaning a possession.
After all how would logic analysis handle the statement "I own myself, and I am myself"

I meant to write "Maybe this is because sometimes verbs by their nature..."

In a just society, could someone voluntarily permanently relinquish their rights as sentient being?

"If I truly own something, I have the right and ability to, sell, give away or destroy the article."

Of course you can do that to yourself. People worldwide do that every day to themselves. Stupidly so IMO, and many because they aren't taught by their parents or shown by society that they do own themselves.

Here in the US, the poor and disadvantaged own you, the NSA owns you, your community owns you, society owns you, the state owns you, etc. They all place demands upon you that you must satisfy or go to jail or die. If you think not, try not paying your taxes, let your grass grow too tall, park your car on the street-sit up on the hood and drink a beer, try to burn the oil from your last oil change, try to carry $5,000 of your own money in your pocket, on and on.