Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping The Poor - Garrett Hardin What Should A Billionaire Give-and What Should You? - Peter Singer
Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping The Poor - Garrett Hardin
What Should A Billionaire Give-and What Should You? - Peter Singer
One of the most important issues facing the world today is the issue of the poor. There are many things that can be done about this issue, however much of the world is torn between wanting to help and not knowing how to go about it. This is the issue that is presented in the two essays - Garrett Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping The Poor,” and Peter Singer’s “What Should A Billionaire Give-and What Should You?” Garrett Hardin was an ecologist who warned of the dangers of overpopulation. In his article, he argues that our first obligation is to ourselves and our posterity and that we would be foolish to let rich nations share their surplus with poor nations. He believes that in a world with a growing population such sharing would do no good, “it would only overload the environment and lead to demands for still greater assistance in the future” (Hardin, Pg. 80). On the other hand, Peter Singer takes the view that people in affluent countries ought to stop spending their money on luxuries and begin giving that money to aid the world’s poor. He believes that all lives have equal value no matter where they are being led, and that we are very far from acting in accordance with that belief. Both Hardin and Singer have Utilitarian views on this subject pointing out the consequences for society. While Singer makes many good points throughout his article, at the end of the day I believe that Hardin provides a better analysis of the situation. Hardin’s point is the more persuasive and the stronger of the two articles, due to his many real world examples and his vivid lifeboat metaphor. Hardin starts off his article with the use of a metaphor, referring to the Earth as a spaceship. A true spaceship would have to be under the control of a captain, and Earth certainly has no captain he says. This led him to the
What Should A Billionaire Give-and What Should You? - Peter Singer
One of the most important issues facing the world today is the issue of the poor. There are many things that can be done about this issue, however much of the world is torn between wanting to help and not knowing how to go about it. This is the issue that is presented in the two essays - Garrett Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping The Poor,” and Peter Singer’s “What Should A Billionaire Give-and What Should You?” Garrett Hardin was an ecologist who warned of the dangers of overpopulation. In his article, he argues that our first obligation is to ourselves and our posterity and that we would be foolish to let rich nations share their surplus with poor nations. He believes that in a world with a growing population such sharing would do no good, “it would only overload the environment and lead to demands for still greater assistance in the future” (Hardin, Pg. 80). On the other hand, Peter Singer takes the view that people in affluent countries ought to stop spending their money on luxuries and begin giving that money to aid the world’s poor. He believes that all lives have equal value no matter where they are being led, and that we are very far from acting in accordance with that belief. Both Hardin and Singer have Utilitarian views on this subject pointing out the consequences for society. While Singer makes many good points throughout his article, at the end of the day I believe that Hardin provides a better analysis of the situation. Hardin’s point is the more persuasive and the stronger of the two articles, due to his many real world examples and his vivid lifeboat metaphor. Hardin starts off his article with the use of a metaphor, referring to the Earth as a spaceship. A true spaceship would have to be under the control of a captain, and Earth certainly has no captain he says. This led him to the