From an individual’s limited perspective, abuse of the resource may have little to no negative effect on him or people around him, but can be of great personal benefit. The rationality intrinsically present in abusing a public resource is known as The Free Rider Problem, and is one of the most challenging issues faced in preserving public goods. Due to the limited damage done to the public good by the free rider, as well as the benefits the individual gains from said abuse, the decision to abuse a resource may be seen as maximizing utility. Thus, from a limited perspective, the decision to abuse the resource is not only the rational decision, but, in a utilitarian framework, abuse becomes the moral decision. The problem inherent in this line of reasoning is that if enough people make this decision, the resource is destroyed in what is known as The Tragedy of the Commons. The challenge posed by the free rider problem is therefore a significant hurdle for utilitarianism as an individual moral framework to
From an individual’s limited perspective, abuse of the resource may have little to no negative effect on him or people around him, but can be of great personal benefit. The rationality intrinsically present in abusing a public resource is known as The Free Rider Problem, and is one of the most challenging issues faced in preserving public goods. Due to the limited damage done to the public good by the free rider, as well as the benefits the individual gains from said abuse, the decision to abuse a resource may be seen as maximizing utility. Thus, from a limited perspective, the decision to abuse the resource is not only the rational decision, but, in a utilitarian framework, abuse becomes the moral decision. The problem inherent in this line of reasoning is that if enough people make this decision, the resource is destroyed in what is known as The Tragedy of the Commons. The challenge posed by the free rider problem is therefore a significant hurdle for utilitarianism as an individual moral framework to