The Fallacy of the 'Tragedy of the Commons'

Submitted by markjagdev
on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 01:28

Garrett Hardin, 1968 article 'Tragedy of the Commons' describes that in a commons the rational herdsmen in his own best interest is compelled to add to his herd perpetually, competing against other herdsman sharing the commons. These herdsman don't see the limits to the commons until they have brought ruin to it all. 

 
Hardin’s notion of tragedy was taken from philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, who in turn drew upon Aristotle. According to Whitehead, the essence of tragedy is “the remorseless working of things.”  And yet we don't need to reject the wise words of Whitehead because Hardin's depiction of tragedy only occurs in open access spaces, that are left unmanaged. Barnes reminds us that successful commons are not open access regimes, but instead they are based on proper management by the herdsmen and so the whole notion that the use of the Commons is an unfolding tragedy is a fallacy. Barnes states the destructive force is not the commons itself but instead arises from outside the commons. The solution lies in upgrading our Economic Operating System.

Comments

janosabel's picture

Fri, 06/17/2011 - 17:36 — janosabel

My heart lept on coming accross the stament "...upgrading our Economic Operating System".

For years I have been conscious of a lack of awareness in the environmental and social change movements of the determining importance of the economic subsystem on the rest of the social system.

A year or so ago the phrase, "It's the economy, stupid!", was making the rounds in US political debateds. This is a key statement and sould be, meybe in a more polite form, taken to heart by all people concerned with the state of the world.

 

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