Sustainability and the Future of the Commons. An Epistemological Examination

Abstract

The current ecological crisis and its most obvious planetary expression, climate change, represents true limitations to current ways of life, especially regarding the management of so-called common goods. This implies a critical revision of the philosophical basis that sustains current socio-ecological dynamics. First of all, this article enquires into modern “anti-commons” philosophy: the “possessive individualism” of processes for the cordoning off and privatization of common goods. Secondly, collective sustainability actions are critically reviewed. Such actions are considered to have veered in one way or another from their original intentions, due mainly to paradigmatic limitations stemming from the modern “anti-commons” agenda. Finally, a reflexive analysis is made in order to progress towards a pro-commons sustainability agenda in order to: (1) make effective fulfillment of global sustainability agreements obligatory; and (2) valuate and promote institutions of collective action for government of the commons on a local scale.