The Tragedy of the Commons (Science, 1968)

Garrett Hardin · 13 Dec 1968

The piece opens with

The population problem cannot be solved in a technical way

Their wordsThe population problem cannot be solved in a technical way, any more than can the problem of winning the game of tick-tack-toe.

Read the piece on garretthardinsociety.org ↗

6 korrents from this piece ↓

Garrett Hardin did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
The population problem cannot be solved in a technical way

Their wordsThe population problem cannot be solved in a technical way, any more than can the problem of winning the game of tick-tack-toe.
Our reading
A finite world can support only a finite population, so population growth must eventually reach zero

Their wordsA finite world can support only a finite population; therefore, population growth must eventually equal zero.
Our reading
Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all

Their wordsRuin 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.
Our reading
Appeals to conscience cannot control human breeding in the long run

Their wordsIt is a mistake to think that we can control the breeding of mankind in the long run by an appeal to conscience.
Our reading
The only coercion worth recommending is mutual coercion agreed upon by the majority of those affected

Their wordsThe only kind of coercion I recommend is mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon by the majority of the people affected.
Our reading
Other, more precious freedoms can be preserved only by giving up the freedom to breed, and soon

Their wordsThe only way we can preserve and nurture other and more precious freedoms is by relinquishing the freedom to breed, and that very soon.

Keep reading

The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.