Editorial Note, Jan-Feb, 2016

Akeel Bilgrami’s paper in the current issue of Social Scientist contains a powerful and comprehensive critique of liberal thought as it has developed from John Locke’s theory of Social Contract to the ‘multi-person prisoners’ dilemma’ underlying the argument regarding the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’. This is a critique and a construct that he has been developing for some time now, and parts of it have appeared earlier in two different issues of this journal itself. We are glad to be able to present to our readers a sketch of its overall architecture, which, though hastily drawn, deserves serious attention because of its ambitious scope.