ABSTRACT
The industrial revolution is at the origin of modernity. And at the heart of the matter lies the Common-pool Resource which, in retrospect, turns out to be decisive for the evolution of capitalism. The Common-pool is the set of resources that are available to everyone indiscriminately, the common heritage that belongs to the citizenry and can, therefore, be enjoyed freely, like water, the sea, the land and the forests. The crisis of modernity brought about a crisis in the idea of progress. As the main engine of the economy and the project of infinite development, progress has come to assume a teleological meaning, whose ultimate goal is human perfection, but in a materialistic sense that was not present originally. Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, progress had opened up unhoped-for perspectives on the future of man, and had inflamed enthusiasm and instilled trust and certainty.
