Garrett Hardin Lifeboat Ethics Analysis

In the article “Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor”, the author Garrett Hardin raised the question that whether the rich countries should help people suffer from poverty. He claimed that the supporting strategies for the developing countries, including the World Food Bank could result in more severe recourse inadequate issue and other disasters. In addition, a large number of immigrants flood in the US could ruin the natural environment and social balance. In that case, the author argued that regardless of the current situation, privileged nations should not provide aid to people trapped within difficulties of the underdeveloped nations. Even though, his

King Lear's egotistical personality gets in the way of countless important decisions and inevitably leads to his own suffering. After deciding to divide his kingdom amongst his daughters and live out his life in peace, Lear chooses to base the amount of land given to each daughter off how must they love him. Or perhaps, how much they say they love him. Goneril and Regan cajole the King, using flattery and professing they love him "beyond all manner" (I.I.60). This warms the King's heart, but when Cordelia, his favourite daughter, cannot find a way to put her love for her father into words, Lear's ego feels bruised and he takes offence. This decision is foolish as Lear cannot see that Cordelia is unconditionally loyal to the King and that Goneril

King Lear's fool is undoubtedly one of the wisest characters in the play. He is not only able to accurately analyze a situation which many other characters are blind to, but he is also able to foreshadow the actions of many characters and many other incidents to come. The main instruction the fool gives to the king is to beware of doing things that are unnatural, such as giving his inheritance, (splitting his kingdom among his daughters) to his daughters before he his dead. By doing this unnaturally, Lear must face many adverse consequences, such as losing his identity, self-worth, and respect from his daughters.

Dividing the Kingdom is not the only indication that order is disrupted. The separation of Lear's family also provide evidence that disorder is inevitable. The banishment of Cordelia and Kent is a harsh act carried out by Lear while blinded by anger. By banishing the only daughter who truly loves him, and a loyal servant who refuses to stand around and do nothing while Lear makes a big mistake, Lear surrounds himself with people who only loved him for his money and power. As Lear's family breaks apart, one must wonder if Lear is capable of ruling a country when he cannot even keep his family together. Again, Lear's desire to fuel his ego is the cause of the separation of his family. When Cordelia refuses to speak lovingly, "Unhappy that I am. I cannot heave My heart into my mouth." (I,i,92-94), Lear becomes angered and banishes her. As an act of loyalty, Kent stands up

In Garrett Hardin’s essay, Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor, Hardin describes the wealthy population of the world as being in a single lifeboat that is almost filled until buckling while the poor population of the world treads water below. Hardin’s essay gets his readers to feel the natural instinct to survive. The lifeboat metaphor that Hardin uses relieves the wealthy population of their moral obligations to the less fortunate, but in addition, puts all of the blame and cause of the depletion of earth’s resources on the poor. As much as his argument may make sense,

This is the scenario of the Lifeboat Ethics in which Hardin relates this lifeboat to the space ship Earth. It goes that the lifeboat is the wealth nations and the people in the water are the poor or unfortunate. All ethic beliefs have flaws and strong points, as you will see in the following explanations. The 5 ethical theories have a one or two examples explaining how someone would go about making this decision from the view of: Divine Command Theory, Egoism, Utilitarianism, Kantian Ethics, and Natural Law. All five have ethic believes do justice, but have flaws, and strong point. An ethic theory to solve a problem is good. Following

In his article Rich and Poor, Peter Singer argues that we have a moral obligation to give assistance to people in absolute poverty. He derived this conclusion from three premises. The first states that if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, then we ought to it. The second premise is that absolute poverty is a bad thing. The third premise is that we are able to alleviate some portion of absolute poverty without giving up anything of comparable moral significance. To illustrate the urgency of our duty to assist the poor, he believes that in a case where we happen to walk pass a child drowning in a shallow pond, the vast majority of people would agree that it would be seriously morally wrong to not rescue the child. Connecting this scenario to Singer’s argument, we can say it is seriously morally wrong to not assist the poor because the lives of these people in need are of greater moral importance than the excess income we would otherwise spend on luxury goods. Thus, Singer is correct in saying that we have a moral obligation to assist the poor, and that failing to do so is equally as morally wrong as failing to rescue the drowning child.

Due to this flaw, Lear has given way to the two older daughters to conspire against him.  Lear is finally thrown out of his daughters’ homes and left with a fool, a servant and a beggar. This is when Lear realizes the mistake that he has made and suffers the banishment of his two eldest daughters.  Lear is caught in a storm and begins to lose his sanity because he can not bear the treatment of his two daughters as well as the error he has made with Cordelia and Kent.  Lear also suffers from lack of rest when he is moving all over the place and the thing that breaks him is the death of his youngest daughter, Cordelia.  This suffering can be contrasted with other happier times like when Lear was still king and when he was not banished by his two daughters.

In the beginning of the play, Lear’s egotistical nature was elucidated when he arranged to give parts of his kingdom away to his daughters, through a competition in which each of the daughters had to justify how much they loved him. “Tell me, my daughters since now we will divest us both of rule, interest of territory, cares of state which of you shall we say doth love us most that we our largest bounty may extend where nature doth with merit challenge” (I i 2)? Lear is planning to give away his throne so that he would not have to deal with the duties that are bound with being king anymore. Additionally, he wants to give away the title to the daughter that he believes loves him the most, not the one who would do the best job ruling the kingdom, which highlights his narcissism. Moreover, Lear was pleased with Regan and Goneril’s false statements of love and angered with Cordelia’s truth that she could only love him as much as her heart holds.

Peter Singer, a prominent moral philosopher and public intellectual, has written at length about many ethical issues. He subscribes to utilitarianism, which is the position that the best moral action is that which maximizes the well-being of conscious entities; this view is made apparent through his writings. In his essay What Should a Billionaire Give—and What Should You? Singer presents the idea that although the rich are capable of mitigating extreme poverty, there has been little improvement for the poorest 10 percent of the world’s population. He maintains that all life is equal and, therefore, saving the lives of the poor is a moral imperative for those who can afford to. “We are far from acting in accordance to that belief,”

Garrett Hardin’s excerpt from “Lifeboat Ethics” first appeared in Psychology Today in September 1974. In this essay, there is a metaphor that rich and poor are very different. I strongly disagree with Hardin’s metaphor even though he is truthful about his beliefs. The metaphor is only being seen in one point of view, when there are multiple ways of looking at it.

Introduction In Garrett Hardin’s (1974) article titled, “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor”, he argues that poor countries should not be helped by richer countries. Poor countries should be aided by rich countries under the stipulation that it comes in the form of education and provisions for health and life. This formal academic critique entails an evaluation of the author’s claim that rich countries should not aid poor countries. Garrett Hardin is well qualified to speak of this, as his numerous works include 27 books and more than 350 published articles.

He decides upon an early retirement, “to shake all cares and business from [his] age” (I.i.41) and renounces his duty to his country through a foolish game of flattery. Old, lonely, and ignorant of the potential repercussions, he challenges his daughters, in the interest of their inheritance, to see who would be able to profess their love for him best. Whichever daughter could best appeal to his ego, “that we our largest bounty may extend / where nature doth with merit challenge” (I.i.57-58). The largest piece of land would go to whoever expressed their love for him the greatest. For the purpose of entertainment and self assurance that he is in fact loved, he gambles the future of Britain, careless about the impending state of the country. Lear’s “destructive behaviour [is] symptomatic of the lack of appropriate boundaries between his self and the people who surround him” (Stawicka), and as a result of this distorted sense of omnipotence, he has no regard for anyone outside of his immediate social group. He does not think of the political turmoil that he has imposed, and doesn’t concern himself with the fate of the citizens. His only interest is in himself and his well being now that he has given away his land. Ignorant of the detrimental effects that his need for filial admiration has, Lear maintains his immodest mentality, thus

- No! You Cannot Come in Garrett Hardin writes about saving the poor in his essay"Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against the Poor" found in The Blair Reader. Hardin writes about how the rich countries are in the lifeboat and the poor countries are swimming in the ocean. He also writes about how the United States helps other countries. Hardin feels that if the government keeps helping other countries and letting people in then America will also drown. "We must convince them if we wish to save at least part of the world form environmental ruin"(page 765). Why should I help the poor countries? Why should I let the immigrants in? I see no reason for helping someone that

Above all, Lear's foolishness is the cause of his downfall. His illogical decisions cause chaos in the kingdom. Though he means well, Lear does not think rationally when he decides to hand over his power to his daughters before he dies. Lear was too quick to step down from the throne and did not realize that a bloody power struggle would ensue. In addition to losing his title, Lear is also left without a home when he divides his kingdom. Lear greatly