Garrett Hardin Lifeboat Ethics Analysis

In “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor” (1974), Hardin debates whether rich countries should provide aid to poor countries through food supplies or immigration. Garrett Hardin was a renowned Americans philosopher received his PhD in microbiology from Stanford University. He has written several books and articles that mainly focus on ecology, and throughout his life, has constantly forewarned the world about the risks of overpopulation. Due to his deep understanding of ecology, and due to the intensive research the author has done on this particular topic, Hardin is credible to write an article about this topic. Moreover, Hardin’s main purpose in writing this piece is to persuade the readers, the population of the rich countries and their governments, not to help the poorer countries. Nevertheless, Hardin does not succeed in persuading the readers of his viewpoints, as Hardin fails to provide enough evidence to support his controversial arguments. In the article, Hardin discusses the principles behind supporting poor countries and how it can substantially hinder the growth and prosperity of the rich countries. Initially, the author provides two metaphors, the widely accepted spaceship metaphor and his own lifeboat metaphor, explicating why his lifeboat metaphor is more realistic. After that, the author elucidates to his audience how the rate of population growth in poorer countries is much greater than the rate of growth of rich countries, and how with the