Lifeboat ethics

In Garrett Hardin’s paper, “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor,” Harden uses the analogy of a lifeboat being a nation. He intends to offer his opinion, while explaining why his theory, “Lifeboat Ethics,” is more accurate than a previous theory, “Spaceship Earth” (Hardin, 358). Throughout the paper he explains that by the rich supporting the poor, they are enabling the poor to continue in their destructive ways and to ultimately cause “environmental ruin” (Hardin, 366). Hardin’s work is persuasive, but can be perceived as harsh and confusing. He starts out with a metaphor, using it as an extended metaphor for the whole paper, but his metaphorical stance and his literal stance do not seem to line up. His extended metaphor…

Help for someone people is second nature. Helping others no matter what the circumstances may be is just instinct for them. While for others help is something they approach more cautiously it’s something they choose to do if it does not negatively impact them in the process. Help is complex and confusing. Should it always be given to those who need it? Or should help only be offered if we can offer it without risking ourselves? For some the answer is clear we should all strive to help as many…

“A Modest Proposal” V. “Lifeboat Ethics” Distributing limited resources among our rapidly growing economy has always been a cause for concern. There are new lives being brought into this world everyday even though our resources are dwindling down as we speak. In “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift and “Lifeboat Ethics” by Garrett Hardin, each author uses a different method of appeals to propose to their readers a way to help our ever growing population. Hardin uses more of a logic based…

Tragedy of the Commons: An Interminable Paradox Essayist Garrett Hardin, in his paper, “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor”, argues that human beings are involved in a slowly increasing state of world devastation as they continue to misuse the world’s resources and, consequently, refuse to provide the adequate resources in return for their plundering. Hardin’s purpose is to educate the intellectual public of this matter so that measures might be taken and unreasonable solutions…

In a campus filled with countless of students, the overall goal is to make sure that every student achieves their goals. However, imagine if the lifeboat ethics metaphor was applied to college campuses, students that are underprivileged would be left out and only the privileged students would achieve their goals. Many students would like to attend classes, but due to lack of money or space available in the classrooms, they are left outside the lifeboat. In Garrett Hardin’s essay, “Lifeboat…

In many of the world’s major religions, political systems, and moral foundations, resource sharing is synonymous with the concepts of compassion and generosity. Many people would agree that we are morally obligated to abide by the Golden Rule and do for others as we would do for ourselves. Although many would agree that generosity and compassion through resource sharing is just, one question lingers- is it realistic? In his essay, “Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor,” Garrett…

Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor” Selfishness is exposed by Durning’s “Asking How Much Is Enough” In the short essay “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor” Garrett Hardin argues that the planet faces the problem of overpopulation. He suggest nations should stop helping the poor before the overpopulation kills everyone. He advises the wealthy to protect their resources and leave those who cannot to fend for themselves. He describes the world as being…

time goes by, it becomes awfully clear that these issues are problems we must deal with. While many want to address and solve these issues, there tends to be a divide on how to do so. There are many papers available concerning this problem. The two I find to have the strongest arguments are actually quite contradicting. First was Garret Hardin’s essay “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor” where he argues that we should not aid the poor. On the other side, Peter Stinger makes a…

Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover Should we help the poor? Individual nations are like lifeboats. Each with a distinct carrying capacity. If the number of passengers exceed this capacity, everyone drowns. In the story “Lifeboat Ethics” by Garrett Hardin, he believes the world would be better if we didn’t help the poor. If we help the poor, then what are we doing to ourselves? In the story “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, he believes we should help the poor. There are a few examples about how…

In the argument essay “Lifeboat ethics, the case against Aid that does harm”, Garrett Hardin presents his opinions on world population and world food. The article starts off with the analogy of the Earth as a spaceship, but then advances to the Earth as a lifeboat. The reason for the move away from the spaceship analogy and onto the lifeboat analogy, is that a true spaceship would have to be under the control of a Captain, and no Captain could possibly survive if his course were to be determined…