Condorcet
"There can be no
relationship between property in ideas and [property] in a field, which can serve
only one man. [Literary property] is not a property derived from the natural order
and defended by social force; it is a property derived from the natural order
and defended by social force; it is a property founded in society itself. It is
not a true right; it is a privilege. In other words, ideas are not the creation
of a single mind. Ideas are intrinsically social and belonging to all; they are
not produced by individuals, but the fruit of a collective, social experience.
What writers do is simply put written expression to these collective ideas, and
that is not deemed property."