scholarly journals The devil in the number: Rethinking Garrett Hardin’s The tragedy of the commons and global overpopulation crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taiwo Olaiya
Keyword(s):  
Critical Factor ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Original Intent ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Proximate Causes ◽  
Classic Essay ◽  
Global Divides ◽  
The Devil

<p>Critiques about the misconstrued thesis of Garrett Hardin’s (1968) classic essay entitled <i>The Tragedy of the Commons</i> are well documented. However, little is known of the remote and proximate causes of the pejorative confusion about the vital essay. This article engages the discursive reconstruction of the thesis from the management of the commons to the original intent about the unscrupulousness of unchecked population growth as a critical factor to the looming collapse of the earth. Deploying an eloquent metaphor, <i>the devil in the number</i>, the article reinvents the illogic of overpopulating the world while simultaneously pursuing the technocratic solutions to nature’s burden. The article reports four marked factors that swayed perception away from Hardin’s thesis. The significance of Hardin’s essay for the overburdened ecosystem as the harbinger for the socio-economic and governance crisis across the global divides is also discussed.</p>

scholarly journals The devil in the number: Rethinking Garrett Hardin’s The tragedy of the commons and global overpopulation crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taiwo Olaiya
Keyword(s):  
Critical Factor ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Original Intent ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Proximate Causes ◽  
Classic Essay ◽  
Global Divides ◽  
The Devil

<p>Critiques about the misconstrued thesis of Garrett Hardin’s (1968) classic essay entitled <i>The Tragedy of the Commons</i> are well documented. However, little is known of the remote and proximate causes of the pejorative confusion about the vital essay. This article engages the discursive reconstruction of the thesis from the management of the commons to the original intent about the unscrupulousness of unchecked population growth as a critical factor to the looming collapse of the earth. Deploying an eloquent metaphor, <i>the devil in the number</i>, the article reinvents the illogic of overpopulating the world while simultaneously pursuing the technocratic solutions to nature’s burden. The article reports four marked factors that swayed perception away from Hardin’s thesis. The significance of Hardin’s essay for the overburdened ecosystem as the harbinger for the socio-economic and governance crisis across the global divides is also discussed.</p>

scholarly journals Plots and Motives about the Creation of the Earth and Man in the Mythology of the Altaians

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-62
Author(s):  
N. R. Oinotkinova
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Folk Tradition ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Close Contacts

The paper analyzes the plots and motives of Altai myths about the creation of the earth and man with the use of comparative material from the folklore of peoples with which the Altai people had close contacts in the past, in particular from Russian and Buryat-Mongolian folklore. The motives characteristic of these versions are considered: diving behind the earth; creation of the earth; the creation of man; the dog protects the human body; desecration of the human body; spilled elixir of immortality; lost heaven; the overthrow of the devil from heaven; competition of deities for primacy in the rule of the world. In the Altai folk tradition, two versions of the myth of the creation of the world and man are distinguished: the first is dualistic (pagan) and the second is “Buddhist”. In the dualistic version of the myth, the main characters are two deities – Ulgen and Erlik. In the plot of the “Buddhist” version of the myth, unlike the dualistic one, 4 deity brothers participate in the act of creation: Yuch-Kurbustan (Three Kurbustan) and Erlik. This story is joined by a Buddhist legend about how bodhisattvas competed in order for the victor to become the ruler of the world.

scholarly journals Issues of environmental (ir)responsibility

2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (7) ◽  
pp. 2085-2092
Author(s):  
Jana Dundelová
Keyword(s):  
Natural Environment ◽  
Social Dilemma ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Human Survival ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Modern Technologies ◽  
Ecological Behaviour

In this paper the author reflects the questions of humans’ relationship to the environment and of their ecological behaviour that becomes together with the development of modern technologies increasingly relevant just as the question whether humans are able to affect fundamentally the environment on the Earth by their activities. According to some authors (e.g. Ehrlich, 1968; Gore, 2006; Wilson, 1995; Winter, Koger, 2009; Šmajs, 2005) human survival is directly connected with people’s relationship to the nature; but other influential authors have contradictory opinions or they are at least afraid of overestimation of ecological activities that can lead to neglecting of other important problems (e.g. Simon, 1981; Goklany, 2007; Lomborg, 2007; Klaus, 2007, 2009).These issues are dealt in this article mainly from the perspective of psychological theories and concepts – the Freud’s concept of unconsciousness is discussed as well as groupthink, theory of dissonance, contingency trap, Milgram’s theory of autonomous and agentic state of consciousness, group and intergroup behaviour, social dilemma – tragedy of the commons. Achieving a sustainable way of life depends on the equilibrium between consumption of individuals and regenerative abilities of the natural environment. However, people still behave as if they were separated from the nature. The linking axis of this article is the question of psychic powers causing individual and collective ecological (ir)responsibility and the resulting consequences.

When the World Falls Apart: Methodology for Employing Chaos and Emptiness as Theological Constructs

1992 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-491
Author(s):  
Stuart Chandler
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Amorphous State ◽  
Limited Time ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Marginal Areas ◽  
The World ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Cultural Hero

In traditional Judeo-Christian mythology, chaos and cosmos are seen as antagonistic forces that have been vying for supremacy throughout time. According to this worldview, chaos describes the amorphous state of emptiness in which all forms are confounded in a universal confusion without structure or hierarchy. Geographically it is situated in the unexplored wilderness that surrounds and encroaches upon the ordered domain. Chaos is the realm of darkness and barrenness, symbolized either as a deep, boundless, watery abyss (Sheol) or a fiery pit in the bowels of the earth (Hell). Chaos has several incarnations: at times it is presented as a dragon or water monster who joins in primordial combat with a cultural hero; in other cases it is personified as the devil. When historicized, it is represented by Israel's enemies, such as the Egyptians in the Red Sea episode of Exodus 15. Not only primeval disorder, but all disruptive forces that periodically threaten the world are manifestations of chaos: hurricane, flood, fire, earthquake, famine, war, crime, and death. It cannot be forever annihilated, but only suppressed for a limited time. The victories of order remain more or less precarious; at best, chaos can be held at bay, forced to retreat to the marginal areas that surround the world of light.

Earth Discourses

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick D. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Modernization ◽  
Environmental Discourse ◽  
Primary Interest ◽  
Limited Government ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Cultural Currency ◽  
Environmental Discourses ◽  
The World ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Environmental Policy Analysis

This chapter draws from the interpretive school of environmental policy analysis, especially John S. Dryzek’s The Politics of the Earth: Environmental Discourses (Oxford, 2005), to provide an overview of the environmental discourses that have historically held cultural currency around the world. It summarizes the ontological foundations of key and competing environmental discourses: the Limits discourse (Survivalism), the Promethean discourse, Democratic Pragmatism, Ecological Modernization, Green Radicalism (Eco-feminism, Environmental Justice) and Sustainable Development. Of primary interest in this overview is how the emergence of what Dryzek calls the “Promethean discourse,” an environmental discourse tied to abundance, limited government, and innovation, has been conversely related to the “Limits discourse,” which is grounded in the construct of scarcity and the “commons” and “tipping point” metaphors, and how the debate between the two has spawned a range of other, alternative environmental discourses.

Preserving the Commons in Private Cluster-Home Developments

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Honggang Yang
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Private Ownership ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Garrett Hardin ◽  
Grazing Lands ◽  
Freedom Of Action

The thesis of "The Tragedy of the Commons," as developed and popularized by ecologist Garrett Hardin (Science 162, 1968), is a striking recognition of the dangers of freedom of action in an environment which is limited. The "commons" consists of those resources that are needed but are not or can not be assigned private ownership. The concept applies throughout the world and over many different types of resources, such as fisheries, forests, grazing lands, and irrigation systems. Hardin studied the eroding situation of American communal and natural resources and found that "freedom in a commons brings ruin to all."

"Once? No. Twenty times? Sure!" Repeated decisions and uncertainty in the tragedy of the commons

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Hardisty ◽  
Howard Kunreuther ◽  
David H. Krantz ◽  
Poonam Arora
Keyword(s):  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
The Commons

Exiting Socialism Challenges

2006 ◽  
pp. 114-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Social Challenges ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
Science And Culture ◽  
Municipal Economy

Exiting socialism by almost a third of the earth population appears to be the most prominent event of the late XX century. The author makes an attempt to formulate some challenges of this process and thus a theory of exiting socialism. First, he inquires into the concept of exiting socialism as it exists in the world. Then he analyzes real experiences in this field. The research enables the author to outline the main economic, governmental and social challenges of such exit - from municipal economy to science and culture.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document