| Concept/Content |
tragedy of the commons / ozone hole |
| Information caption |
The most profound challenge to explaining moral behavior seems the threat of cheaters. Selfish individuals may proliferate by "free-riding" at the cost of sharers. Economists encounter this problem when they discuss public goods, intended to be distributed evenly, but freely available for anyone to take a disproportionate share. Philosopher Garret Hardin (1968) suggested that many environmental problems develop because individuals will tend to overuse or spoil a shared "commons" (public lands, rivers, oceans, the air) at everyone else's expense — resulting in what he called the tragedy of the commons. Problems seem inherent in any group trying to establish a pattern of sharing behavior. Ultimately, selfishness seems always to subvert cooperation. It may well seem an inescapable consequence of the process of natural selection.
The problem arises, however, only when individuals act independently of each other. In a social setting, blind interactions can rarely be assumed. For example, individuals may learn to interact selectively: only with individuals that reciprocate or that are known publicly as reliable cooperators. –Or they may identify and punish violators. Social level interactions dramatically alter the prospects for moral behavior. |
| Inquiry caption |
Behavioral genetics alone does not solve the problem of how reciprocity might function in a social setting. Psychological level considerations alone leave open the question of what may be learned from others. So we might turn to the third conception of morality, moral systems (Table 1).
A closed genetic program or psychological predisposition to help or exhibit reciprocity has a potential flaw (which you may have already noticed?): what about cheaters? Won't selfish individuals proliferate by "free-riding" at the expense of others? Won't that subvert any system of cooperation or sharing? Here is one possible example: the ozone hole, typical perhaps of many environmental problems. What prevents someone from using more than their fair share of a shared resources, or "commons," such as public lands, rivers, oceans, the air. Philosopher Garret Hardin (1968) called this problem the tragedy of the commons. Economists encounter this problem when they discuss public goods, intended to be distributed evenly, but freely available for anyone to take a disproportionate share. What are the conditions under which this problem develops? Can you imagine any solutions to this problem? How might the abilities to learn and to interact with others in a social context alter the dynamics of cooperative or selfish behavior?
Target: Orient to moral systems, and the roles of sociality and communication |
| Source |
NASA |
| SIZE in pixels [file size] |
474x474 |
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