Tragedy of the Commons
In Garrett Hardin's essay "Tragedy of the Commons," the author presents a radical solution to the overpopulation problem. The title of the essay refers to a scenario presented by a mathematician in 1833. In the scenario, a communal pasture is enjoyed by several herdsmen in a given area. Everything is fine until "social stability" is achieved (2). When that happens, each herdsman feels entitled, even obliged, to "maximize his gain," (3). All the other herdsmen do the same thing and before long the pasture becomes overgrazed. Therefore, human self-serving instincts do not necessarily benefit the collective, and in many cases such as this, self-serving leads to collective destruction. Hardin calls this collective destruction the "tragedy of the commons." Hardin then applies the metaphor of the pasture to other tragedies of the commons, ultimately focusing on the overpopulation problem. According to Hardin, overpopulation can be stopped through public policy that limits breeding. Human beings and their societies enact a slew of laws that limit our personal freedoms. Because overpopulation is causing some undesirable and even disastrous effects such as starvation and pollution, laws should be enacted to enforce human population control. Although Hardin's position is radical and shocking, and offensive to the libertarian social values that most Americans uphold, it is difficult to resist the inherent logic and practicality of the solutions he proposes.
Hardin begins his argument by noting that some problems have definite technical or technological solutions, while others do not. For example, the natural sciences can devise new ways of harvesting wheat and the computer sciences can design new hardware and software solutions to meet the needs of consumers. However, some problems cannot be solved by technical or technological means. Hardin compares these problems to the game of tic tac toe, in which ultimately there is no real way of winning through technical skill. The overpopulation problem according to Hardin is a problem for which no technical solution exists....
Tragedy of the Commons Few people would deny that overpopulation is a major problem. Even sparsely populated nations feel the brunt of the overpopulation problem because overpopulation affects the environment, politics, and the global market economy. The world currently holds six billion plus individual human beings, an unprecedented number. Rainforests are being cut down and soil depleted of their natural nutritive qualities in an attempt to please human appetites and keep
The world's oceans are over-fished. It takes more land resources to bring animals to slaughter than it does to grow vegetables that could feed the world. What may be pleasurable, or even good for the individual is not necessarily what is good for the 'common' -- for the majority of the people who will have to live on a planet being depleted of natural resources. This is also true
" To quote the Encyclopedia of World Biography's entry on Thomas Paine (2004) "his contributions included an attack on slavery and the slave trade. His literary eloquence received recognition with the appearance of his 79-page pamphlet titled Common Sense (1776). Here was a powerful exhortation for immediate independence. Americans had been quarreling with Parliament; Paine now redirected their case toward monarchy and to George III himself -- a 'hardened, sullen tempered
Tragedy of the commons refers to a situation where each individual, when engaged in profit-maximizing behavior, causes overall damage to common property. The principle reflects two ideas. The first is the economic idea of profit maximization, wherein it is held that in general each individual will seek to maximize their own outcomes. The second idea is that in doing so individuals will generally exploit common property. Indeed, transactions between individuals
Then comedy disappeared when the Roman Empire collapsed. Nonetheless, the moulds for its future development had been cast. Greek comedies were rediscovered during the Renaissance, the point of origin of comedy as we know it today. Furthermore, the Renaissance brought two major developments to the comedy: the commedia dell'arte, and plot developments and defined archetypal characters (Storey: 407). "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is what theoreticians may call a classical
Nevertheless, it was his curiosity that made him popular and it would only make sense that it would be his downfall as well. This very human aspect of the king allows us to relate to him and a persona level. The final tragic move in the play occurs as Oedipus chooses to leave his Thebes. His attempt to rid the city of contamination is brave. He realizes his failure and
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