Garrett Hardin Lifeboat Ethics Summary

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In the article “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor,” by Garrett Hardin affirms that nations should preserve their resources and let others struggle by themselves. Hardin explains that if people do not take care of our resources there will no longer be left anything for future generations. Harding was a Professor of Ecology educated on the subjects of resource distribution and the application of ecology in western civilization. Holding a Bachelors Degree in Zoology and a Doctor’s in Microbiology, Dr. Hardin was recognize for his brutally honest thoughts on human overpopulation. His writings were highly criticized due to the amount of content that was considered to be inhumane. This article was originally published in Psychology…show more content…
In the beginning of his article Dr. Hardin refers to policies chosen by those in power without regard to the effects they would have on their own citizens. He describes the world as being a lifeboat with enough room for a few inside the boat and the majority in the water begging for help. The author says the needs of a country are based on the size of its populations therefore the smaller countries are using resources at a rate more than four times faster than the larger countries. Dr. Hardin talks about the solutions the US came up with to feed the poorer countries. He explains both of these programs cost the tax papers millions of dollars in taxes and in turn earned the government billions. Dr. Hardin states, “these programs were designed by those claiming to be humanitarian but in reality were selfish idealists looking to earn profit.” Dr. Hardin claims if countries were responsible for themselves they would work harder to fix their own problems, “…if each country was solely responsible for its own well-being, poorly managed ones will suffer. But the can learn from

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