Abstract

This two-part article is a detailed examination of the problem of the commons in environmental ethics. According to Garrett Hardin, the logic of the commons requires a policy of "triage" concerning aid to the non-industrialized world. Griffin attacks this view on both a theoretical and a factual level: Hardin's logic is incapable of proving the superiority of rational egoism; and the facts of third world development and production do not fit the model of medical triage.