It’s a great philosophy if you a) are content to be an amateur, or b) have a day job, but for people who want to be professional writers (or musicians, inventors, or other producers of intellectual property) copyright is the principal means of ensuring that their work translates into a living. And that’s what makes professional writers possible.

The reason artists have lived without copyright protection for most of human history is that culture and law were not yet sophisticated enough to provide that protection, and because artists were, for most of history, servants of the rich and powerful.