Template talk:Unintended consequences

Inclusion criteria

I think we need to impose a bit of discipline on what is in this template. Can we have a verifiable rule enunciated about what should be in this template? I suggest that at a minimum, there should be at least one reliable source describing a particular concept as an instance of unintended consequences. LK (talk) 07:00, 16 September 2015 (UTC)

@Lawrencekhoo: Agreed. I came here to object to the inclusion of Tragedy of the commons. The "tragedy" occurs when a given situation arises. A situation has no "intentions", it is not a program or intervention, so I don't see how "Unintended Consequences" is relevant. Sondra.kinsey (talk) 15:36, 21 October 2017 (UTC)

You say, Sondra.kinsey, that the tragedy of the commons is a situation, and not the kind of thing that could have an intention. Yes of course. To think a tragedy could have an intention would be a category mistake. But how do you conclude from that that a tragedy cannot be an unintended consequence? That is seriously confused logic. Here is a reliable source which characterizes the tragedy of the commons as the "classic case of unintended consequences":

* McGuire, Randall H. (2008) Archaeology as Political Action pages 43–44, University of California Press. ISBN 9780520254916.

And here are two more reliable sources which assert that the tragedy of the commons is an unintended consequence:

* Hull, David (2001) Science and Selection: Essays on Biological Evolution and the Philosophy of Science page 140, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521644051.

* Thiele, Leslie (2011) Indra's Net and the Midas Touch: Living Sustainably in a Connected World page 22, MIT Press. ISBN 9780262297974

You can find other reliable sources, also pointing out the obvious, here and here. --Epipelagic (talk) 09:29, 22 October 2017 (UTC)

@Epipelagic: Nevermind what I think. Your sources are good. I accept the inclusion of unintended consequences on this template. Sondra.kinsey (talk) 19:08, 23 October 2017 (UTC)