Garrett Hardin

When people are asked to think about the environment, many different ideas come about. For Garrett Hardin, it was the idea of the tragedy of the commons that was most concerning to him. He wrote an essay about the exploitation of a resource used by many people. In a short-term aspect, this is beneficial for the developer, but over time the resource is damaged beyond repair (Hardin). He explained the damage to resources as a result of greed. The tragedy of the commons was conveyed in Dr. Seuss’…

countries keep helping the poor countries, the population of those in poverty will continue to rise at an even quicker rate. It is a proven fact that the lower income countries are doubling their population before the larger and more fortunate ones. Garrett Hardin, the author of this essay, is trying to explain this topic as survival of the fittest by saying that the wealthier countries and the people that…

poverty, questions have been raised about the duty of those who are more well off to those in need.The most compelling and sensible of the pieces responding to this issue would be the one from Garrett Hardin Lifeboat Ethics due to its realistic approach to the ethics involved in the distribution of resources. Garrett Hardin’s Lifeboat Ethics provides the best response to the question on what is an individual's responsibility to the community due to its realistic approach to the ethics involved…

Tragedy of the Commons: The Lorax meets the Dakota Access Pipeline The tragedy of the commons is an economic problem popularized by Garrett Hardin in the late 1960s. This widely accepted theory states that “every individual tries to reap the greatest benefit from a given resource. As the demand for the resource overwhelms the supply, every individual who consumes an additional unit directly harms others who can no longer enjoy the benefits.” (Investopedia) This theme of greed is present…

classical utilitarianism. The first ideas about happiness as pleasure and an absence of pain is the works of Bentham. Later on, Mills focused on Bentham’s original ideas and also attempted to improve them. In the excerpt, “Living on a Lifeboat” by Garrett Hardin, the ideas about helping global poverty and hunger in order to reduce suffering and pain are put to the test when a lifeboat metaphor is introduced. Depending on the situation, pleasure can vary in quantity and quality, and actions can…

essays are also very different in the way that they approach the problem and the techniques they use to do so. Both of the authors, Hardin and Malthus, have a similar opinion about the poor, but they don’t voice their opinions the same way. After analyzing both of the authors’ essays, the reader can see that Malthus and Hardin are two very different people. Hardin seems to be an upper class citizen with very high status, unlike Malthus who seems to be middle class and only a mediocre status.…

Small numbers of resources would lead to a lot more competition between tribes, resulting in an even faster rate of death for the inhabitants of Easter Island. This is an example of how an environment can only support a maximum number of organisms. Hardin stated, “A finite world can support only a finite population”…

contrary to the common good of society by depleting or spoiling that resource. Garrett Hardin explains the tragedy of the commons through an example of herdsman with cattle on the common and each herdsman seeks to maximize their gain. With each additional cattle added to the common there is a positive (proceeds from the sale of an additional animal, +1) and a negative (overgrazing of the common, -1) component (Hardin, 1968). Hardin states the conclusion that the herdsman comes to is to add…

The Ethical Impact of Socioeconomic Inequality As humans, we have the option to help someone and not to help someone. Although we have the option to say yes or no, our decision will have an impact. In the articles that I have recently read, there has been controversy on whether the poor should be helped, or left to die off. In my opinion, the poor should be helped. Money, and living conditions separate the rich from the poor. Helping each other could change the way that the economy is going.…

What is The Tragedy of the Commons? The Tragedy of the Commons refers to an essay written by Garrett Hardin; Hardin explains that humans will overuse a resource until it is no longer present, for short-term financial gain. Hardin points out many examples of this, however, he chooses to single out the fact that given free range of the land herdsman will almost always exceed the carrying capacity of the land, thus exhausting the land of its fertility. The Tragedy of the Commons is also shown…