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The Real Tragedy of the Commons
Author(s) -
GARDINER STEPHEN M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
philosophy and public affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.388
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1088-4963
pISSN - 0048-3915
DOI - 10.1111/j.1088-4963.2001.00387.x
Subject(s) - politics , tragedy (event) , tragedy of the commons , ethical theory , political philosophy , moral philosophy , philosophy , commons , environmental ethics , sociology , classics , art history , law , political science , social science , history , epistemology
In two celebrated and widely anthologized articles, as well as several books, the biologist Garrett Hardin claims (a) that the world population problem has a certain structure: it is a tragedy of the commons; and, (b) that, given this structure, the only tenable solutions involve either coercion or immense human suffering.' In this article, I shall argue for two claims. First, Hardin's arguments are deeply flawed.2 The population