Lifeboat ethics 4653469 217922477 2008-06-08T09:35:34Z Richard001 692238 /* See also */ [[Norman Borlaug]] [[Image:Titanic lifeboat.jpg|right|thumb|Hardin uses the metaphor of a lifeboat to make his argument.]] '''Lifeboat ethics''' is a metaphor for resource distribution proposed by the [[ecology|ecologist]] [[Garrett Hardin]] in 1974.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_lifeboat_ethics_case_against_helping_poor.html |title=Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor |accessmonthday=July 29 |accessyear=2006 |author=Garrett Hardin|last=Hardin|first=Garrett |date=September 1974|year=1974|month=September |publisher=''[[Psychology Today]]'' }}</ref> Hardin's metaphor describes a [[Lifeboat (shipboard)|lifeboat]] bearing 50 people, with room for ten more. The lifeboat is in an ocean surrounded by a hundred swimmers. The "ethics" of the situation stem from the [[dilemma]] of whether (and under what circumstances) swimmers should be taken aboard the lifeboat. Hardin compares the lifeboat metaphor to the [[Spaceship Earth]] model of resource distribution, which he criticizes by pointing out that a spaceship would be directed by a single leader &mdash; a captain &mdash; which the Earth lacks. Hardin asserts that the spaceship model leads to the [[tragedy of the commons]]. In contrast, the lifeboat metaphor presents individual lifeboats as [[wealth|rich]] nations and the swimmers as poor nations. Lifeboat ethics is closely related to [[environmental ethics]], [[utilitarianism]], and issues of [[resource depletion]]. Hardin uses lifeboat ethics to question policies such as [[foreign aid]], [[immigration]], and [[food bank]]s. == See also == * [[Balloon debate]] * [[Norman Borlaug]] - advocated a 'World Food Bank' * [[Carrying capacity]] * [[Food for Peace]] * [[Intergenerational ethics]] * [[Population control]] * [[Ratchet effect]] * [[Repugnant conclusion]] * [[Triage]] * [[Zero Population Growth]] ==References== <references /> ==External links== *[http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_lifeboat_ethics_case_against_helping_poor.html Lifeboat ethics - a case against helping the poor (Garrett Hardin Society)] *Hardin, G. 1974. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11661143 "Living on a lifeboat"] ''Bioscience'' 24 (10), 561-568. [[Category:Thought experiments in ethics]] [[Category:Environmentalism]]