Notes on Volition and Property

I am a behaviorist when it comes to volition. The act and the will are undifferentiated. I do not know what you intend except by what you do.
When we lack a significant commonality with another human being and, in consequence, treat them in a cavalier fashion we are said to be alienated in the vulgar if not the clinical sense of the word. I would offer a closer descriptive term. I would say that without the relational threads that compose social existence, we 'objectify' other human beings. Which is to say, we treat them as though they lack significant volition, as a stone, as a tree, as an object. And we do so as a more capable being, as a human to a dog. The dynamic resembles a behavioral hypothesis to be proved or disproved.
While I am willing to leave the why of humans doing this to psychology, I am concerned about the philosophical consequences. 'Object', as it comes into the English language from the Greek, means to present to the mind. Apparently, by so doing, it also means to include in one's social sphere with all the categories of social hierarchy. We seem to have a prejudice wired into our brains, perhaps related to fight or flight, that anything not immediately identifiable with ourselves in reliable relationships, my dog, my neighbor, your wall, is an object lacking volition until it proves otherwise, a sort of analytical xenophobia.
Thus the human need to 'know' their universe resolves as a need to establish reliable relationships with everything in that universe and that ordering inclination resolves in terms of greater and lesser volition, both cognitive horsepower and physical capability. Property then resolves as a reliable relationship, not 'possession ' as the concept has evolved, but 'keeping' as the Ancient Greeks had it.
If one removes possession from the lexicon of property, robots present an interesting problem. Soon to have the cognitive horsepower of a smart dog and the capability of significant physical action, they resolve in a complex 'keeping' relationship such as one has with a dog. In such a relationship they are eligible for licensing as a means of establishing legal liabilities and responsibilities. And if subject to licensing, they are subject to licensing fees, a new rational and valuable revenue stream.
Do Well and Be Well