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Tragedy of the commons
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===Garrett Hardin's article=== In 1968, [[ecology|ecologist]] [[Garrett Hardin]] explored this [[social dilemma]] in his article "The Tragedy of the Commons", published in the journal ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]''.<ref name="hardin6822">{{harvnb|Hardin|1968}}</ref> The essay derived its title from the pamphlet by [[William Forster Lloyd|Lloyd]], which he cites, on the over-grazing of common land:<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhong|first1=Xianxin|last2=He|first2=Shaotang|editor1-first=Richard B|editor1-last=Hoover|editor2-first=Arthur B. C|editor2-last=Walker Ii|date=1996-07-19|title=<title>High-resolution grazing incidence x-ray spectrometer and its characteristics</title>|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.245087|journal=Multilayer and Grazing Incidence X-Ray/EUV Optics III|volume=2805|pages=156β157|publisher=SPIE|doi=10.1117/12.245087|bibcode=1996SPIE.2805..156Z |s2cid=119679290}}</ref> {{Blockquote|text=Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit{{snd}} in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.|author=Garrett Hardin|title=The Tragedy of the Commons}} Hardin discussed problems that cannot be solved by technical means, as distinct from those with solutions that require "a change only in the techniques of the [[natural science]]s,<ref>{{Citation|title=Problems Solved by Means of the Lagrangian Formalism|date=2014-08-26|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1201/b17232-9|work=Analytical Mechanics|pages=165β235|publisher=CRC Press|doi=10.1201/b17232-9|isbn=978-0-429-06861-4|access-date=2021-05-24}}</ref> demanding little or nothing in the way of change in [[Value (personal and cultural)|human values]] or ideas of [[morality]]". Hardin focused on human [[population growth]], the use of the Earth's [[natural resource]]s, and the welfare state.<ref name="Intolerable">{{harvnb|Hardin |1968|p=1248|ps=: "it is the role of education to reveal to all the necessity of abandoning the freedom to breed. Only so, can we put an end to this aspect of the tragedy of the commons?"}}</ref> Hardin argued that if individuals relied on themselves alone, and not on the relationship between society and man, then people will treat other people as resources, which would lead to the world population growing and for the process to continue.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Decoupled maternal and zygotic genetic effects shape the evolution of development (Table 3. A number of individuals from each family were used in mapping crosses.) |journal=eLife|date=10 September 2018|volume=7|pages=e37143|doi=10.7554/elife.37143.009|last1=Zakas|first1=Christina|last2=Deutscher|first2=Jennifer M.|last3=Kay|first3=Alex D.|last4=Rockman|first4=Matthew V.|editor1=Nordborg, Magnus|editor2=Tautz, Diethard|editor3=Nordborg, Magnus|editor4=Tessmar, Kristin |doi-access=free }}</ref> Parents breeding excessively would leave fewer descendants because they would be unable to provide for each child adequately. Such negative feedback is found in the animal kingdom.<ref name="Intolerable" /> Hardin said that if the children of improvident parents starved to death, if overbreeding was its own punishment, then there would be no public interest in controlling the breeding of families.<ref name="Intolerable" /> ====Political inferences==== Hardin blamed the [[welfare state]] for allowing the tragedy of the commons; where the state provides for children and supports over breeding as a fundamental human right, a [[Malthusian catastrophe]] is inevitable. Consequently, in his article, Hardin lamented the following proposal from the [[United Nations]]:<ref name="HARDIN 202β212">{{Citation|last=Hardin |first=Garrett |title=Excerpts from 'The Tragedy of the Commons'|work=Environment and Society|year=2017 |pages=202β212|publisher=NYU Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt1ht4vw6.33|isbn=978-1-4798-4474-6|doi-access=free}}</ref> {{blockquote|text= The [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] describes the family as the natural and fundamental unit of society. [Article 16]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ |title=The Universal Declaration of Human Rights |newspaper=United Nations |date=10 December 1948 |access-date=4 September 2011|last1=Nations |first1=United }}</ref> It follows that any choice and decision with regard to the size of the family must irrevocably rest with the family itself, and cannot be made by anyone else. |source= Statement on Population by the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]]<ref name="U Thant Statement">{{Cite book |title=Levels and trends of contraceptive use as assessed in 2002 |publisher=United Nations Publications |last=United Nations. Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs. Population Division |quote=some have argued that it may be inferred from the rights to privacy, conscience, health and well-being set forth in various United Nation's conventions [β¦] Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children (United Nations, 1968) |year=2004 |page=126 |isbn=978-92-1-151399-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNkRbI8EAJgC }}</ref> |sign= [[U Thant]]}} In addition, Hardin also pointed out the problem of individuals acting in rational self-interest by claiming that if all members in a group used common resources for their own gain and with no regard for others, all resources would still eventually be depleted. Overall, Hardin argued against relying on [[conscience]] as a means of policing commons, suggesting that this favors [[selfish]] individuals β often known as [[Free-rider problem|free riders]] β over those who are more altruistic.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Touch-screen-guided task reveals a prosocial choice tendency by chimpanzees (''Pan troglodytes'') {{!}} Figure 4: Proportion of the cumulative mean for combinations of two options: S-A, (selfish and altruistic), P-A (prosocial and altruistic) and P-S (prosocial and selfish) in Experiment 2 for five individuals (A) and Pan (B).|journal=PeerJ|date=31 July 2018|volume=6|pages=e5315|doi=10.7717/peerj.5315/fig-4|last1=MendonΓ§a|first1=Renata S.|last2=Dahl|first2=Christoph D.|last3=Carvalho|first3=Susana|last4=Matsuzawa|first4=Tetsuro|last5=Adachi|first5=Ikuma |doi-access=free }}</ref> In the context of avoiding [[over-exploitation]] of [[Common-pool resource|common resources]], Hardin concluded by restating [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]]'s [[Maxim (saying)|maxim]] (which was quoted by [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]]), "freedom is the recognition of necessity".<ref>{{Citation|last=James|first=David|title=Hegel and Marx on the Historical Necessity of the Terror|date=2021-03-04|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198847885.003.0005|work=Practical Necessity, Freedom, and History|pages=101β124|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oso/9780198847885.003.0005|isbn=978-0-19-884788-5|access-date=2021-05-24}}</ref> He suggested that "freedom" completes the tragedy of the commons. By recognizing resources as commons in the first place, and by recognizing that, as such, they require management, Hardin believed that humans "can preserve and nurture other and more precious freedoms".<ref name="HARDIN 202β212"/>
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