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Lifeboat ethics is a metaphor for resource distribution proposed by the ecologist Garrett Hardin in two articles published in 1974, building on his earlier 1968 article detailing "The tragedy of the commons ". Hardin's 1974 metaphor describes a lifeboat bearing fifty people with room for ten more.
Lifeboat ethics is a term coined by ecologist Garrett Hardin to describe a position that rejects the rights of the less fortunate to common resources and aid. He argues that wealthy nations should not help the poor, as this would lead to overpopulation, pollution, and catastrophe.
Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor. by Garrett Hardin, Psychology Today, September 1974. Environmentalists use the metaphor of the earth as a "spaceship" in trying to persuade countries, industries and people to stop wasting and polluting our natural resources.
The harsh ethics of the lifeboat become even harsher when we consider the reproductive differences between the rich nations and the poor nations. The people inside the lifeboats are doubling in numbers every eighty-seven years; those swimming around outside are doubling, on the average, every thirty-five years, more than twice as fast as the rich.
If we divide the world crudely into rich nations and poor nations, two thirds of them are desperately poor, and only one third comparatively rich, with the United States the wealthiest of all. Metaphorically each rich nation can be seen as a lifeboat full of comparatively rich people.
Lifeboat ethics is a metaphor for the resource capacity of the earth and the ethical dilemma of who should survive and who should die. It was coined by ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1974 and has been used to justify the exclusion of weaker societies.
Hardin argues that the metaphor of a lifeboat helps to illustrate the dilemma of limited resources and moral choices in a world of scarcity. He criticizes the spaceship metaphor and the ideals of generosity and justice, and advocates for a more realistic and responsible approach to survival.
