Category: politics

• July 29, 2014

  The tragedy of the commons: Existential homelessness

  I have been discussing the three ways of making a living, one of which is concerned with using the property we have. One good test of my first maxim–using properly what you’ve got–would be the ‘tragedy of the commons.’ In a now famous paper, ‘The Tragedy of the Commons,’ which was originally published in Science in 1968,…
• July 24, 2014

  The virtues corresponding to our economic relationships

  I have been discussing three ways of making a living, which correspond also to three kinds of economic relationships. Cast as maxims, these ways are: I. Use what you’ve got. II. Exchange what’s in hand. III. Offer what you can. I. ‘Using what you’ve got’ is a territorial as well as a (for lack of…
• July 23, 2014

  Why Kickstarter can’t work and other related matters

  I now want to begin the slow and steady work of teasing out the implications of this tripartite model of making a living. Here is that schema again: I. Use what you’ve got. The ‘getting’ part refers to acquiring something or other. The ‘using’ part may have as its referent land, waste, plants, animals, tools, people,…
• July 22, 2014

  Our 2 conceptions of work: work as toil vs. work as performance

  Yesterday, I wrote about the three ways of making a living, and I still have many implications to spell out. Today, I set this subject off to the side and turn to a related topic, this being our conceptions of work. I believe that there are only two conceptions that vie and belie each other, that each…
• July 21, 2014

  The only 3 ways of making a living: Reflections on sustaining life

  Yesterday, I had a breakthrough in how I think about economic relationships when these are understood in the most basic terms possible. The occasion for my thinking about this question is my upcoming fall course, ‘The Good Life and Sustaining Life,’ at Kaos Pilots. There are three principal questions that make up the course I’ll be teaching: