PHIL 4 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Garrett Hardin, Thought Experiment, Invisible Hand
11/29/17
● What is “a fair distribution”?
○ The bourgeois assert that the present day distribution is “fair”
○ Because they have the most
○ Take the total social product. From it, take:
1. Cover for the replacement of the means of production that are used up
2. Cover for the expansion of production
3. reserve/insurance funds against accident, calamities, etc.
● From that we now take:
1. Administration
2. The needs of society
3. Funds for those unable to work
● These are the “common funds”
● What is left over?
○ Now we have a discussion about what is fair by those who produce (in more or
less cooperation) the social product
○ An individual conception of labor does not really exist in these larger systems of
cooperation, only a contribution to total labor
○ Quantify the amount of labor people contribute, and they can draw from the
social stock of goods/services
○ What about those who supply more labor in the same amount of time?
■ They have a right to more
○ What about different material needs?
○ These happen in any society, and resulting inequalities are fine
○ Increasing growth of the total social product should be shared in proportion to the
work that people put in
■ Social product increases by 50%
■ More efficient workers gain 50 % more
■ Normal workers gain 50% income
■ Those unable to work gain 50% more support
● Garrett hardin
○ “The tragedy of the commons” (1968)
○ Theoretical ecologist
○ Best known for his thought experiment on the tragedy of the commons
■ 32,573
○ Influential professor at ucsb, founding member of the university environmental
studies program
○ Member of the hemlock society. Committed suicide in 2003 as the result of
terminal illness
● In 1960s industrialization and food production boomes
○ Population skyrockets
Document Summary
The bourgeois assert that the present day distribution is fair . From it, take: cover for the replacement of the means of production that are used up, cover for the expansion of production. From that we now take: administration, the needs of society, funds for those unable to work. Now we have a discussion about what is fair by those who produce (in more or less cooperation) the social product. An individual conception of labor does not really exist in these larger systems of cooperation, only a contribution to total labor. Quantify the amount of labor people contribute, and they can draw from the social stock of goods/services. These happen in any society, and resulting inequalities are fine. Increasing growth of the total social product should be shared in proportion to the work that people put in. More efficient workers gain 50 % more. Those unable to work gain 50% more support.
