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 — a captain — 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]]