Question

a) What are the paradox of cooperation and rational egoism. Can that be accounted for cooperative behavior or altruistic behavior in a Darwinian setting? How many behavioral patterns may you encounter, If encountered while dealing with two individuals – a donor and a recipient?

b) Connecting with the tragedy of the commons concept, how did the commons start? Why did we move away from enclosures?

c) What is feudalism as a system? Are there spill-over effects of feudalism in other cultures and geographic areas? Does the feudal system relate to the enclosure movement?

Answer 1

a) The Paradox of cooperation and rational egoism (self interest) is called 'Prisoner's Dilemma'. It is an abstract, formal and model of interaction between two people who must decide whether to cooperate or to cheat. Altruism maximises benefit to others, even at cost to oneself leading to cooperation.

	Cooperate	Defect
Cooperate	(second best, second best)	(best, worst)
Defect	(worst, best)	(third best, third best)

Charles Darwin also regarded altruism problem as the act of helping someone else, even at personal cost. He has also mentioned in his book, 'The Descent of Man' that, "He who was ready to sacrifice his life, as many a savage has been, rather than betray his comrades, would often leave no offspring to inherit his noble nature". Therefore, somewhere or the other, the theory of Prisoner's Dilemma can be accounted for the altruist behaviour of Darwinian setting.

Many economists defines altruistic behaviour as the donor's "attempt to maximise the pleasure of the recipient". It can also be defined as a donor's voluntary act which benefits the recipient.

b) "The tragedy of commons" was written by Garret Hardin in a journal Science in 1968. It is a situation of shared resources used by independent individuals according to their self interest. It has its impact on resources and sustainability. The word common is used in place of 'common land', which was stated by British economist William Forster Llyod in his essay in 1833. Here it means, any shared and unregulated resource such as ocean, river, road, fish , atmosphere, highways, etc.

Enclosures means the use of land is only restricted to the owner and ceased to be used for common purpose. Initially, enclosures were not an offence but on the later stages it became a destruction. Villagers were left with no homes, livelihood was difficult. Some people were turning into thieves, vagabonds and criminals. Parliament passed the acts to stop enclosures, to limit its effect, or to charge those who are responsible. It led to many destruction and revolt in later stages.

c) In a feudal system, vassal (a peasants or worker) received a piece of land in return to work or serve the king or lord, especially during war times. Feudalism discouraged unified government and lords were promoted. They would divide the land into smaller areas. Feudal government was always an arrangement between individuals also not between citizens and states. There was no sense of loyalty to a geographical area or a particular race, only a loyalty to a person which would terminate on the person's death.

Yes, feudal system is related to the enclosure system. According to Karl Marx, enclosure played a constitutive role in the transformation of feudalism in to capitalism. It lead by transforming land from a means of subsistence in to a means to realise profit on a product and by creating conditions for the labour market by transforming small workers proprietors into agricultural wage labourers, therefore leading to decline in the opportunities to exit the market as the common lands were enclosed.