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

Critiques of the misconstrued thesis of Garrett Hardin’s (1968) classic essay entitled The Tragedy of the Commons from the futility of technical solution for overpopulation crisis to concern of managing the commons are well documented. However, little is known of the remote and proximate causes of the pejorative confusion about the important essay. This article engages the discursive reconstruction of Hardin’s thesis focussing on the original intent, which is the unscrupulousness of unchecked human breeding as the critical factor in the tragedy of the earth’s commons. Deployed is an eloquent metaphor, the devil in the number, and thematic analysis of the (Hardin’s) essay and systematic review of relevant and related literature before and after the essay was published in 1968. The texts reinvent and reinforce the illogic of overpopulating the world while simultaneously pursuing the technocratic solutions to nature’s burden. The article reports four marked factors that swayed the perception of Hardin’s thesis. In effect, the attempt stimulates a discourse showcasing the significance of Hardin’s essay, particularly the global lackadaisical attitude towards overpopulation as a strategic, if not the single most important, factor in the overburdened ecosystem and, by extension, as the harbinger for the socio-economic and governance crisis across the global divides.