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Jarret Hardin Lifeboat Ethics Summary

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Garret Hardin effectively communicates his argument to the reader in Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against the Poor by providing a metaphor to appeal to the reader’s sense of emotion, providing logos, through the structure of the passage by including subtitles, and examples throughout the passage. Hardin begins the passage with a metaphor to make his statement on foreign aid. He uses the lifeboat as a representation of the wealthy countries, while incorporating the underprivileged countries swimming in the ocean in need to get on the boat. The author also used a metaphor to demonstrate that there is a limited spot on the boat, and how do these wealthy countries chose which swimmer can get a spot on the boat (Hardin 543). Hardin used this metaphor to enlighten the readers …show more content…

He stated that “[c]omplete justice, complete catastrophe” (543). Hardin defines complete justice as being able to let everyone onto the boat, however, letting everyone on the boat will lead complete catastrophe, because if there are too many people on the boat, the wealthy would not have enough resources to distribute to everyone, resulting the boat will sink due to it exceeding capacity. This appeal to the reader reason of logic, because the reader has decided if it is reasonable to save everyone, knowing that it is not feasible. The author highlights the practical limitation of helping others. Another method that Hardin used to convey his reasoning is through the structure of his passage by including subtitles. This is an effective method because gives the reader an idea of what to expect when reading that part of the passage. In addition, it allows the reader to look for key reasoning when reading the section. “Adrift in a Moral Sea” is an example of one of the subtitle in the passage. With the subtitle, it gives the reader an idea of what the author will discuss in that section. In this section,

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From a young age were taught that everyone needs help and that we should always try to help others. We tended to want to do our part no matter how small to help others but is that always a good thing by helping are we really helping or just creating future problems? In “Lifeboat Ethics” by Garrett Hardin, Hardin tries to reason with those people who always want to help he explains why foreign aid is not beneficial for any party involved. The author uses pathos appeal to address the audience’s values, beliefs, and assumptions about foreign aid. He understands that most of his audiences believe that if they can help then they should.

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Hardin contends that in the event that we keep up the present pattern of help, individuals may leave a destroyed world for the accompanying eras. This leads the audiences’ to

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Hardin strongly appeals to logos to show his readers that rich countries like the United States shouldn’t help poor countries because it would continue the growth rate of poor countries and will leave future generations with a poor quality of life. One way he does this is by using statistics. While discussing at the beginning the metaphor of lifeboats and explaining the gap between the population of rich countries compared to poor countries Hardin says, “On average poor countries undergo a population a 2.5 increase in population each year; rich countries about 0.8 percent” (par. 28). This is effective because it is makes the reader realize that poor countries are taking over population wise; therefore, are in need of more resources than we are. That means that if we want to help poor countries we have to share with them, but

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The Great Depression was a time of economic crisis around the world from the time period 1929 to World War II. To help capture the feeling in this period, John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath. The main plot of of the story is about the Joads, a farming family forced from their home sent to search for work in California. Steinbeck includes a series of intercalary chapters to help paint a picture of migrant workers and the challenges they faced. In chapter 9, Steinbeck explores the emotional trials the tenants forced to endure when they are required to leave their homes and their lives, this chapter is an appeal to pathos.

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Garret Hardin and Walter Benjamin wrote essays called “Lifeboat Ethics” and “Challenge to the Eco-Doomsters. Both authers present different points of view when it comes to immigration, foriegn aid, and population. Hardin is opposed to immigration and compares the United States to a lifeboat that can only hold so many people before it sinks. He belives if we keep letting people in to the country we will overcrowded and everyone who is already here will be effected. He says the country is a “commons”, and can hold only so many people.

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Throughout this autobiography, Frederick Douglass reaches out to his readers to be compassionate to slaves, and persuades them using rhetorical devices when recounting his life's story. He uses striking imagery describing the pain his body endures in order to show how dehumanized slaves are and make their pain tangible to his northern audience, as well as builds his credibility to the readers by bringing up facts and stories of his first hand experience through life as a slave, while also gaining their sympathy. Exploiting the abuse of slaves, Frederick Douglass uses imagery of the interactions between his owner and his aunt, Hester, to enlighten and horrify readers about how these people were dehumanized by their owners and environment, and Douglass desires readers to sympathize.

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“I know that in writing the following pages I am divulging the great secret of my life, the secret which for some years I have guarded far more carefully than any of my earthly possessions; and it is a curious study to me to analyze the motives which prompt me to do it. I feel that I am led by the same impulse which forces the un-found-out criminal to take somebody into his confidence, although he knows that the act is likely, even almost certain, to lead to his undoing. I know that I am playing with fire, and I feel the thrill which accompanies that most fascinating pastime; and, back of it all, I think I find a sort of savage and diabolical desire to gather up all the little tragedies of my life, and turn them into a practical joke on society”

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Hardine declared the metaphor “spaceship” can be dangerous when used by misguided idealists, sharing our resources with uncontrolled immigration and foreign aid would consider to be the ethics of a lifeboat. He gave a logical reasoning about if we help all the swimmer to get on the boat, the boat will drown and we all die. Also “when we let an extra 10 into our lifeboat, we will have lost our “safety factor”, this is true, if we don’t leave space for safety factor, even us can face some catastrophic consequences. He said “since the world’s resources are dwindling , the difference in prosperity between the rich and the poor can only increase”, the poor nations reproductive rate is a lot greater than the rich, and so helping the poor probably will lead to more poor people. In “the tragedy of commons” , he concluded “only the replacement of the system of the commons with a responsible system of control will save the land, air, water and ocean fisheries” which an accurate statement for “commons” can be diminish overtime if no one take the responsibility to care for it.

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Imagine if you were born into a country filled with poverty, fear, anxiety, despair and sorrow. The pain and suffering you would go through every day was so violent that you and your family had given up on all measures of hope. Every day you would fear persecution and you couldn’t even feel safe in the comfort of your own home. But what if there was a sliver of hope of escaping this drama occurring in your homeland by leaving by boat. All this drama gone in a flash, wouldn’t you want to try?

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